Climate concerns have been around in academia since at least the turn of the century, but have been in the public consciousness in the West since the 60s.
“Oops I drained an entire sea to grow cotton” probably has a common sense component to it that would suggest “Maybe this is a bad thing to do in the long term for the people living here”
To be fair, the Soviet Union did all those things long before the climate was a concern.
Climate concerns have been around in academia since at least the turn of the century, but have been in the public consciousness in the West since the 60s.
“Oops I drained an entire sea to grow cotton” probably has a common sense component to it that would suggest “Maybe this is a bad thing to do in the long term for the people living here”
Major governments caring about climate is a recent development and politics often ignores academia until issues become critical.
Learning these things often happens in hindsight. They almost certainly thought it would work out in the long run.