I’m sure every Sustainability professional gets their fair share of interesting communications from the whole spectrum of eco-eccentrics ranging from mad inventors – “I’ve solved the energy crisis using magnets!” – to the ‘modern life is killing us’ brigade – “LED street-lighting is a death sentence hanging over everyone!” (both examples are genuine).

While I tolerate all this nonsense with a wry smile, the fact that campaigns of any kind attract the conspiratorial fringe often puts off those in the mainstream. They have a worrying tendency to shout (metaphorically or literally) at normal people, admonishing them for being ‘monkeys who shop’ etc. We have some very serious ecological threats handing over us, and the only way to solve them is to get those normal everyday people on board.

I’m convinced everybody is an ecologist deep down and we need to tap into that, by designing our engagement for the mainstream. We need sustainable behaviour to be simple, comfortable and rewarding – not dragging people down dank rabbit holes of dubious science and wild conspiracy theories. Let’s keep it real!