I really think that the threat of nuclear annihilation in the 80s/etc set the stage for a sort of nihilistic attitude of, “well, live it up before it all disappears” which played out in the silly fun of the 80s and the quest for power for those who saw the cynical side. Plus nuclear tensions created a smokescreen to focus on in politics, diverting attention away from the 70s messages about the environment, like “hey we got bigger fish to fry here”.
So here we are, 45 years further down the road and firmly entrenched in all of our little conveniences and globalized dependencies, and now what? We did ignore the environment, we made a shit-ton more trash, we gouged more resources out of our planet, and we started a chain reaction.
As much as forward-thinking administrations try to regulate, shit finds a way. The only reason I’m not utterly terrified is that I probably only have 25 years left on the planet. So I’m just regular terrified.
