So it’s the morning after the night before and, as broadly expected, Scotland voted to stay in the UK with the rest of us. But what really stood out is how, in this age of extreme political cynicism, the people of Scotland got really fired up about the issue. It became a topic of daily debate with friends, family and neighbours for months and the turnout of 84% speaks for itself – by comparison, the UK 2010 general election turnout was 65%.

Those of us in the sustainability profession looked on in green-faced amazement. How on earth can we generate this level or intensity of engagement in, say, climate change? Or a fraction of it, for that matter?

Well, it seems to me that what fired up the independence debate is that it was an issue that really mattered to the population of Scotland – and they had a chance to decide the outcome. And that’s what we must do with sustainability, either with groups of people or with individuals – frame it so it matters to the audience and get them involved in the decision of what to do to address those issues.

Classic Green Jujitsu, in other words!