The Sierra Club national office in 1969 consisted of one full-time volunteer. Back then, a few activists worked on traditional green issues like conservation, the protection of wilderness and animals. But none tackled urban ones, like industrial pollution. There was almost a universal acceptance of unhealthy conditions. High-tech improvements in industrial nations have accompanied the heightened awareness.
More efficient autos produce a fraction of the emissions their counterparts did three decades ago.
Use of alternative energy sources like solar and wind power has grown exponentially while use of potentially dangerous ones like nuclear power have declined. Hitting the Earth twice as hard' A busy street in Cairo. Environmentalists say a booming global population over the past 30 years has accelerated environmental deterioration Yet a burgeoning number of environmental problems have cropped up or worsened since 1970, making environmentalists more concerned than ever. There's been 30 more years of greenhouses gases, species extinctions and population growth. The rate at which humans are destroying the environment has risen, rather than declined, environmentalists agree.