Last week I was at an event where a presenter proposed local authorities should have a 100 year plan. I stuck up my hand. “From my experience of local Government, you’ll get all the actions in the 51-100 year time frame and little of substance in the first 50 years.” We bantered on about it for a while.

Of course we are both right. We do need to think long term and act as if the climate is the emergency it is, but the latter is the crucial bit to survival. An analogy would be with paramedics attending an emergency. The long term prospects of the victim often depends on the treatment they receive in the first 60 minutes – the golden hour as it is known. Once the patient has been stabilised, the rest of the medical profession works to minimise any long term complications. Likewise, climate models show that carbon reduction measures made today are much, much more effective than similar measures being made in a decade’s time.

Am I being too patronising? Surely professional adults can hold both long term and short term goals in their head at the same time? I would say on a conscious level yes, but it is our subconscious that dominates our decision-making and procrastination is driven by our subconscious.

Take the slogan “Think Global, Act Local” that emerged from the 1992 Earth Summit. It is absolutely 100% correct that the changes that matter are made on a local level. But what happened in practice was that every local authority appointed a Local Agenda 21 officer or two. These irrepressibly enthusiastic young people would work with local people to improve recycling rates, dig ponds with community groups or take kids on wildlife walks. All fantastic stuff, but in the meantime new car-dependent housing estates and shopping centres with high carbon buildings were springing up on the edges of our cities, connected by ever-wider roads getting clogged with private cars that people were almost forced to own. But as long as the LA21 box got ticked, no-one batted an eyelid.

The biggest barrier to Sustainability is “yes, something needs to be done, but not by me.” That other person might be in the LA21 office on another floor of the building or the person doing the job when the incumbent is mooching around a golf course on the Costa. But we don’t have time for that, we are in the climate golden hour right now.

The antidote to this ‘not me/not yet’ mindset is ownership by current decision makers. This is why I recommend my clients develop a 7-10 year Sustainability Strategy – the end target has to be close enough to provoke immediate action by the individuals in the room while giving ample time for changes to be implemented. That’s how we get stuff done.