Climate concerns have been around in academia since at least the turn of the century, but have been in the public consciousness in the West since the 60s.
“Oops I drained an entire sea to grow cotton” probably has a common sense component to it that would suggest “Maybe this is a bad thing to do in the long term for the people living here”
Climate concerns have been around in academia since at least the turn of the century, but have been in the public consciousness in the West since the 60s.
“Oops I drained an entire sea to grow cotton” probably has a common sense component to it that would suggest “Maybe this is a bad thing to do in the long term for the people living here”
Major governments caring about climate is a recent development and politics often ignores academia until issues become critical.
Learning these things often happens in hindsight. They almost certainly thought it would work out in the long run.