Environmental crisis must be faced with new forms of social regulation. In this regard, the principle of reciprocity could be useful. There are different kinds of reciprocal exchange. One of these, called "open chain reciprocity", is conceptually similar to the process of sustainable development. The problem is to discover how to start cycles of reciprocity on environmental goods. The paper explores some reasons why people could be engaged on reciprocal exchanges where the stake is the environment protection. According to this criteria, the paper analyses literature in three fields: environmental policies, the so-called third sector organizations and individual motivations to pro-environment actions. The analysis shows that the concept of reciprocity is present, but not in an explicit manner. Concepts as trust, moral obligation, responsability are often used. New research must be done, not forgetting the processual and interactive nature of reciprocity.