Immediate versus long term implications of not changing

I was listening to the coverage of the Copenhagen Climate Conference yesterday and heard an interesting contribution during a phone in.

The caller commented on the fact that mobilising action on climate change is so hard as the effects are (relatively) slow and the impact on not changing is a "creeping" one. It is much easier to mobilise action when the effects are acute and the impact immediate and visible to all.

How do you deal with "creeping" change in your organisations? How can we make the impact of this type of change more acute and therefore make it easier to mobilise our teams?