We test how fast and slow thought processes affect cooperation for sustainability by 18 manipulating time pressure in a dynamic common pool resource experiment. Sustainable 19 management of shared resources critically depends on decisions in the current period to leave 20 enough stock so that future generations are able to draw upon the remaining limited natural 21 resources. An intertemporal common pool resource game represents a typical dynamic for social 22 dilemmas involving natural resources. Using one such game, we analyse decisions throughout time. We find that people in this context deplete the common resource to a greater extent under time pressure, which leads to greater likelihood of stock collapse. Preventing resource collapse while managing natural resources requires actively creating decision environments that facilitate the cognitive capacity needed to support sustainable cooperation. 28 Overextraction of natural resources in the present can lead to negative consequences for society 29 and is at odds with most definitions of sustainable development (1). According to Pearson (2), 30 "the core of the idea of sustainability is the concept that current decisions should not damage 31 prospects for maintaining or improving living standards in the future." Essential for 32 sustainability and important to many aspects of human and animal behaviour (3-6) is 33 cooperation. Societies with imperfect, incomplete, and shared property rights face social 34