Start doing/support rewarding/draw attention to interesting, creative, innovative things neighborhoods are doing to change the status quo - Only then will people want to be involved in the process on a larger scale.

Anyone who thinks technology is somehow required for sustainability need only think back to the derecho. If you lost power for days, what you still were able to do in your house is sustainable. I am a physicist who worked at the Patent Office for 34 years examining new technologies, and I really get hacked off when lay people say that "technology" somehow will help "sustainability". The Amish understand what "sustainable" is, and it has nothing to do with "technology". If it requires electricity, telecom, or fossil fuels, it is not sustainable. That includes hi-tech wind generators and solar energy. Look to the Amish lifestyle for what is sustainable. Everything else is hype and illusion.