I think one thing to realize is that a lot of what eventually became an environmentalist movement is around 2 main points.
First, that countries were rich enough to be able to afford the costs. There's a reason it started in the US, Western Europe, Japan, etc... In many ways environmentalism is a luxury good as people in poor countries have much bigger concerns. Sri Lanka is a good example of a society not able to bear the costs.
Second, that when the movement was birthed, the goal was to stop things. And it really was necessary. Basically the factories spewing soot in Milwaukee, Manchester, or Mannheim needed to be transformed. But the toolkit has never really changed and so what was incremental progress then to very good ends is now the exact same toolkit that prevents progress for the next set of challenges, but very few steeped in the movement seem to be willing to recognize that different challenges require different tactics.
I think one thing to realize is that a lot of what eventually became an environmentalist movement is around 2 main points.
First, that countries were rich enough to be able to afford the costs. There's a reason it started in the US, Western Europe, Japan, etc... In many ways environmentalism is a luxury good as people in poor countries have much bigger concerns. Sri Lanka is a good example of a society not able to bear the costs.
Second, that when the movement was birthed, the goal was to stop things. And it really was necessary. Basically the factories spewing soot in Milwaukee, Manchester, or Mannheim needed to be transformed. But the toolkit has never really changed and so what was incremental progress then to very good ends is now the exact same toolkit that prevents progress for the next set of challenges, but very few steeped in the movement seem to be willing to recognize that different challenges require different tactics.