While technology was a necessary condition, it was by no means sufficient to affect wholesale change across industries and the world.
Another comment quotes part of the history of this issue, and it shows that NGOs such as Greenpeace created political cooperation, solving the basic collective action problem (or prisoners' dilemma) at the core of this issue–which happens to be the same for global warming.
The efforts by environmentalists were also instrumental for scientific organisations and the private sector to invest in alternatives. But even with those technical advances, switching would have ordinarily been a losing proposition: the new technology was more expensive, and often less convenient to consumers.
You needed every citizen to willingly inconvenience themselves for the greater good, and you needed assurances that your competitors would not undercut you in the market by continuing to use "dirty" technology.
The parallels to climate change are obvious, and if you remember the fight for the ozone layer as anything but a "crusade by first-world environmentalists and the nanny-state trying to kill our industries", that only shows how well it worked.
Another comment quotes part of the history of this issue, and it shows that NGOs such as Greenpeace created political cooperation, solving the basic collective action problem (or prisoners' dilemma) at the core of this issue–which happens to be the same for global warming.
The efforts by environmentalists were also instrumental for scientific organisations and the private sector to invest in alternatives. But even with those technical advances, switching would have ordinarily been a losing proposition: the new technology was more expensive, and often less convenient to consumers.
You needed every citizen to willingly inconvenience themselves for the greater good, and you needed assurances that your competitors would not undercut you in the market by continuing to use "dirty" technology.
The parallels to climate change are obvious, and if you remember the fight for the ozone layer as anything but a "crusade by first-world environmentalists and the nanny-state trying to kill our industries", that only shows how well it worked.