I'm not saying they weren't! I'm saying that 'environmental consciousness' as a civic issue started in London in the early 19th century, not '20 years ago'. B

I'm not saying they weren't! I'm saying that 'environmental consciousness' as a civic issue started in London in the early 19th century, not '20 years ago'. By the time pollution was bad from the plastic-chemical revolutions of the 1960's there was already a conscientiousness very well developed. One major difference: the pollution from coal in the industrial age was visible. From the 1950's chemical revolution - it was not. And so it wasn't evident to the average person that the pollution was 'hurting'. Much like smoking - it takes some science etc. to show it's bad.