If citywide recycling programs and green-friendly building regulations are any indication, local environmental awareness is rising as quickly some scientists say global temperatures and sea levels are climbing.

New Ecology Inc., a Cambridge-based company that promotes environmentally sustainable construction and development, held its seventh annual Regional Sustainable Development Forum Friday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management.

The forum, titled “Being a Part of the Climate Change Solution: Individual Action for Collective Impact,” aimed to provide feasible “going-green” options for business owners, educators and average citizens.

“We’ve got this big problem with global climate change,” said New Ecology Vice President Madeline Fraser. “What can you or I do? We can’t stop the sea levels [rising] by ourselves.”

“This isn’t just about tree hugging,” Fraser said. “It makes economic, environmental and social sense.”

Fraser gave the business owners a larger picture of how environmentally friendly construction will affect climate change.

“We may not be able to stop the seas rising,” Fraser said, “but if everyone does just a little bit, then we can make a difference.”

Businesses of all sizes, from national chain Staples to the six-person operation at Image Software Services, shared their green changes with the audience.

Tufts student Holly Elwell, who is studying urban and environmental policy and planning, said she was impressed with Staples’s recycling program.

“They’re really taking action,” Elwell said. “Both [Staples and Image Software Services] showed that at every level there are steps to greening your business — and they’re feasible.”

Adults are not the alone in the effort to go green. Boston Latin School freshman Ismael Saib gathered a team of three other high school students and three designers to transform an old fire station into a green building for Zumix, a non-profit youth organization based in East Boston.

The students used durable but sustainable materials such as cork, rubber and concrete to renovate the building and said they were proud to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver certifications for their efforts.

The LEED rating system — the most widely accepted set of standards used for rating the environmentally friendliness of buildings — ranks buildings “Certified,” “Silver,” “Gold” or “Platinum,” depending on how many points it earns for its design.

Harvard Green Campus Initiative research assistant Jesse Foote said most green builders use these certifications as a benchmark for their economic sustainability projects, including Harvard University, which is currently renovating or constructing 25 buildings to meet LEED certification.

Hospitals around Boston are doing the same. The Boston Redevelopment Authority now orders all new area hospitals over 50,000 square feet to use LEED standards for new construction or the Green Guide to Health Care, a guide on sustainable construction and operations for the industry.

“Four or five years ago [when] the medical building boom started . . . we almost missed the opportunity to make them green,” said Bill Ravenesi, Boston regional director of Health Care Without Harm, a coalition working to limit pollution by the health care industry.

He said the coalition now strives for a LEED silver rating on all its projects.

Janet Brown, partner program manager for Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, said not all the changes a business makes in its building have to be so extreme.

“Go for the low-hanging fruit first,” Brown said. “Look for easy ways to save money and then work your way up.”

Apartment building owner David Whitney said making a completely green building may make environmental sense, but it is not economically viable.

Whitney said if he were on the same level as Harvard economically, then he could afford to make large changes, too.

“I’m not arguing that it will save money in the long run, but by the time returns start coming in from that, someone else will be the owner,” he said.

Still, he said he will look into making as many changes as his budget will allow.

“I’m going after those low-hanging fruit,” Whitney said.