Lots of little steps that you can make a part of your life until you don't even realize you're taking them. Don't treat things as disposable. Do you really need those new ____'s? Not that you need to be a priest or anything -- just conscientious.
Rather than buying bottles of water (or whatever), just use a single bottle again. Carry a bag that you can use for purchases, rather than having stores keep give you plastic bags. And so on. Pay attention to where the products you buy come from and how they're made. When you can
-- soaps and household goods, some clothing, and so on -- try to buy things that are made as cleanly and harmlessly as possible.
But just as importantly, notice the environment. I know this can be difficult in the city, but even here we have birds and trees and the ocean and weather. Do you ever notice the billboards and advertisements that are always around us? When you find yourself actually paying attention for a second to some ad for Saw II or the latest TV show based on housewives in Orange County, make a mental note to pay attention to the next squirrel you see or the trees in your neighborhood. Next time you have an afternoon to kill, take the subway out to Jamaica Bay or Flushing Meadows or Fort Tryon park and go exploring.
When you're saving "the environment," what you're ultimately saving is the natural world -- and these are little parts of that. Come to love it, and saving the environment isn't a burden, but something you do as instinctively and casually as taking care of yourself.
