I once assumed that small incremental environmentally conscious steps in how people lived, worked, and played were inevitable. I'm talking smaller, more energy efficient, and safer vehicles, vegetable protein substitutes in place of industrialized meat products becoming generally accepted and even the norm, and I even had naive presumptions about some imminent expansion of mass transportation because it simply made more economic sense.
But that was all before I learned the power of 
I still maintain that even in retrospect that was the right stance to take: everyone claiming it would happen were the same people always claiming bad country would randomly attack wherever. They were just not reliable sources at all, they had every reason in the world to lie, a track record of lying constantly, no track record of ever not lying, and there was no reason to think things were gonna be any different this time around.
I mean, the reasoning for why it wouldn't happen, because it would be a stupid war that would ultimately undermine the Russian state domestically and globally, was solid. Turns out Putin is just another world leader.