| (using the US as an example) People "tightened their belt" during WWII because they had their sons conscripted by the government to go fight in the war. Some people never saw their fathers or sons ever again once they left the train/ship for Europe. Women were leaving the homemaking roles and working in wartime factories, offices, etc. because you had (theoretically) half of your population off in another country fighting for their lives. You had _everybody_ on board since everyone knew somebody who was currently fighting, died/wounded in battle. It was a very real, persistent, visible issue. Climate change is not visible to everybody and doesn't affect everyone like the war effort did. People see higher cost of living and they're living their daily lives just as they have been for the past decade. There's been no directly observable reason for the majority of people to start encouraging climate change action. It sucks, but that's the way it is right now because humans are humans. Climate change is not that visible of a threat, (un)fortunately, depending on how you look at it. The majority of humans don't look farther than a couple years ahead, _if that_. They're too busy trying to survive with increased taxes, inflation on all goods and services, along with horrific monetary policy during a pandemic. |