This podcast episode explores how token gestures are used to justify our unsustainable lifestyles. We also discuss the characteristics of the human brain, which responds rapidly to threats that are obviously dangerous and imminent but struggles when faced with threats that are uncertain, complex and some point in the future. The problem is compounded by political processes that elect leaders promising 'better times' rather than those who advocate social and economic change. In the light of these issues, it is not surprising that the response to the climate crisis has been characterised by delusion, denial and prevarication.