I came of age in the ‘70s and so grew up with all the apocalyptic rantings. Took them too seriously until I learned better. Ofc the Ecotards will say their hysterical warnings led to policy changes that averted the worst for a while.... but that claim falls apart if we look at any details.
They used to spout wild claims about how toxic oil was. I played around capped oil wells where I noticed weeds and grass grow up through tar and clouded oil funk just fine. And oil running out? Liquid oil is the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The stuff we are getting through cracking is the submerged body of the iceberg. I grew up in an oil industry family.
If you know part of the agenda is pure hooey then the rest falls apart as well.
These bad predictions weren’t the first to predict doom.
It’s ironic that Norman Borlaug won the Noble Prize in the year of the first Earth Day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug