Look at the response to things such as mass shootings which, statistically, represent a small fraction of the total murders committed. Terrorist attacks (in the

Look at the response to things such as mass shootings which, statistically, represent a small fraction of the total murders committed. Terrorist attacks (in the west) receive a disproportionate amount of attention compared to other problems as well. Perhaps it's because these things can disrupt anyone's daily life seemingly at random. Pollution on the other hand is just part of our daily lives. There are other things which fall into that category as well such as smoking, fast food, alcohol, etc. Perhaps we as a species, rightly or wrongly, fear the unexpected more than we fear the status quo, even if the latter is more harmful than the former. So we allocate resources to fix the former but not the latter.