Eco Cooking Tips

If I asked my friend Joanne about her eco-friendly cooking tips, she'd say that her nightly dinner of cereal is about eco friendly as it gets-- one bowl, one spoon, no cooking. Most of us, however, look for a bit more out of our dining experience.
Of course we all know that we should be composting and recycling in our kitchens, but I've been trying to think of other ways to make my kitchen, specifically my food prep, more efficient. Like most cooks, I do the 'leftover soup' throwing all my leftover vegetables into a pot, cooking it for a couple of hours, and hope for the best, but recently I read an article about boiling pasta, that most people use far more water than is required. As an experiment, I started filling my pot with less water, which not only used less water, but also required less energy to bring to a boil. And the pasta was fine. So I began experimenting. What if I used the water remaining from steaming vegetables-- which was full of vitamins and flavor? Good again. What if I steamed the vegetables while waiting for my pasta water to come to a boil? You see where this is going?
So tell me, does anyone want to share any unique tips for the eco-friendly kitchen? Bonus points on ideas about using stale Italian bread.