Increased pollution of the 60s and 70s? here in America? I guessing that the air in most cities was cleaner in the 60s and 70s than 50 years earlier. 50 years earlier people heated their homes with coal, fuel oil or wood. they burn their leaves and trash.
The 60s and 70s was a time of environmental "enlightenment", besides we were a rich country we could afford the relative luxury. the transition to modern electricity and natural gas were economically driven by the economics of scale, not environmental concerns. CAFE standards weren't instituted for environmental reasons originally.

Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. H. L. Mencken