Men and women wearing white coats and dubious facial hair have been droning on about it for years, but let's face it, so what if global warming is the single greatest threat to our existence as a species?

Life as we know it can probably hang on in there for another six or seven decades.

Ye gods ' when did we become such an apathetic bunch? The answer is: we didn't. Caring isn't the issue ' of course we care ' it's doing something about it that gets our collective goat.

So let's take a look at what went wrong... okay, after all the dirty work (the Industrial Revolution, the rise of the power plant, the automobile, airliners, central heating, fridges, blitzing the rainforests etc. etc. etc.); once we knew we'd landed ourselves in it good and proper.

From the outset, the marketing was way off track. Try telling your average Scotsman that the world is gradually heating up and his gratitude may extend as far as buying you a beer. Global Warming, Greenhouse Gasses, Climate Change ' to people in colder climes, it reads like an exotic holiday brochure.

The headlines occasionally manage to hit home: 30,000 dead across France in a single heat wave; flash floods cause untold damage in British cities, towns and villages. And of course we care, especially when experts put two and two together and cautiously conclude it might amount to as much as four.

So what's stopping us from saving the planet? 90% of UK consumers claim to be willing to do their bit for the environment, and where there's a will, we're told, there's a way. We can't blame it on a lack of information: magazines, TV commercials, corporate websites, supermarkets and street corners all sport at least their Top Ten Tips for Going Green. We know the problems, we know the solutions, we know what we have to do. Why won't we do it?

Top Ten Excuses for an Unsustainable Lifestyle:

1. Why Me? I don't log the Amazon, burn copious quantities of fossil fuels or fart like a giant herd of cattle. Why should I pay the price of others' misdemeanours?

2. I don't see anyone else making much effort. And not just individuals ' businesses, communities, governments ' no one pulls their weight. Why should I sacrifice my hard'earned lifestyle?

3. And what if I did? What difference can one person really make? Are you expecting me to save the planet on my own?

4. Who should I believe? All these so-called experts ' they're being paid by someone to sell something, surely. So much advice, so little evidence. It's easier to listen to George W. who thinks it's all rubbish.

5. I don't have time. Walk to work? You must be kidding! I'd have to get up an hour earlier...

6. I can't afford it, anyway. All that locally grown organic produce ' it's twice the price of the imported stuff. Plus it looks funny.

7. I'm a creature of habit. And bad habits die hard. I tried to give up smoking and loose my love handles and look where that got me... Forget reusing plastic bags.

8. It's just not convenient. You try juggling three kids, a job and a social life and tell me you still have the energy to look for one of those kerbside recycling bins.

9. It's too late to do much good now. The long-term forecast is doom and destruction: the damage is done. May as well enjoy what time I have left to me.

10. It's all a bit Hollywood. I've seen it somewhere before ' some far-flung threat of global disaster, a bit of rushing around, shouting, a couple of explosions and then I can't remember exactly what happens but there's definitely an American guy who saves the world. Problem solved.

Do these arguments really excuse our growing burden of landfill, our increasingly polluted atmosphere, our dying forests, our diminishing soil fertility, our melting polar icecaps and the various droughts, floods and famines that are rapidly being accepted as normal?

Responsibility'wise it's time we stopped shrugging and started shouldering ' as a planet.

There's a lot to do, but plenty that can be ' and is being ' done. On an international scale, the majority of the world's industrialized nations have pledged to significantly reduce their carbon emissions over the coming years and decades with treaties like the Kyoto Protocol. Good start. Outlandish-sounding solutions offered by geoengineers ' storing CO2 underground, fertilizing the sea with iron, enhancing clouds and sending up giant 'space mirrors' to deflect sunlight, for example ' are starting to look feasible. And governments, local and national, are thinking up ingenious ways to galvanize us into action...

Take Norway, for example. In 1997 they launched a lottery with a difference ' any individual, family or organization could put themselves in the running for the 2m Kroner jackpot simply by scribbling a name and contact number on their recycling. More than two thirds of all Norwegians now recycle regularly.

Many developed countries have put in place schemes to promote sustainability: Germany's Green Dot; Austria's Pro-local Supply; Norway's Environmental Home Guard; Canada's Home Energy Efficiency grant scheme; the Netherlands' NU Smart Card and Hong Kong's switch to cleaner LPG fuel.

Individual communities have also taken the initiative to tackle problems closer to home, such as innovative water conservation techniques in Lismore, Australia and Barrie, Canada; free public transport in Hasselt, Belgium; the congestion charge in central London, UK; Bike Busters in Arhus, Denmark; the Waste Resource Management Strategy in Halifax, Canada and City CarShare clubs in San Francisco, USA.

All of these programmes share common goals: to change individuals' habits, to maintain new (sustainable) ones and ultimately to generate enough change to alter social norms. This is no mean feat...

We ' the Consumer ' are not always easy to please. We know what we want, and that's a low'cost, quick'win, value for money with minimum disruption and minimal effort bargain. And it's got to make us look sexier.

Can't we do better than that?

Yes, we can. In the words of the Wallflowers, we can be heroes, just for one day. And the next day, and the next, and while we're on a roll, why not make it a lifetime...

So, here are some low'cost, quick'win, value for money with minimum disruption and minimal effort bargains to be snatched off the shelves of your local lifestyle. Plus they all make you a much sexier person.

Ten Sexy Solutions towards Sustainability.

1. Use Pedal Power. A bike's a much more effective method of impressing the opposite sex than a car. It's also generally the fastest way to get around a town or city and it keeps you fit, toned and healthy, whilst helping to reduce the 28'gigaton total of carbon dioxide we dump into the atmosphere each year.

2. Turn off the lights. (If you haven't started cycling yet, this might be more flattering anyway.) You'll be amazed at the nosedive in your power bill if you turn off lights, TVs, washing machines, dishwashers and radiators when you're not using them.

3. Walk to the shops. It's estimated that we throw out 30%'40% of the food we buy. Fifty years ago, this wasn't the case, mostly because Mrs Bloggs didn't have the luxury of a car boot, so she only bought what she could carry home in her basket.

4. Ditch the plastic. They look tacky, they wreak havoc on wildlife and the one with the eggs in always rips before you get home. Let's follow the Irish example and make plastic bags an extinct species. The really inspired might find Mrs Bloggs' basket in the attic... it's destined to become a fashion statement.

5. Go nude. In terms of packaging, that is: keep it to a minimum. Buy bulk, buy refills, buy loose fruit and veg or products using recycled wrapping. The nuder, the better ' it's a great look.

6. Share a shower. A fabulously friendly solution to water restrictions... this was a big hit when launched during a particularly crunchy period across Australia a few years back.

7. Pack your own lunch. That way, you'll have a better idea of what you're eating and it's less likely to be highly processed or packed full of nutritional delights like formaldehyde. Yum.

8. Watch what you wrap. On the subject of sandwiches, stick them in a reusable box. And have a look in your fridge ' do you really need to cling film all your leftovers? This is a perfect excuse to throw a Tupperware party...

9. Get growing. Plant a tree, ideally, or a herb if all you've got is a windowsill. You can feed it with your very own leftovers ' make yourself a compost bin and put your scraps to good use.

10. Talk it up. We've got some social norms to change here ' get the word out onto the street! The new, sexier you has some people to meet...