Cartoon: We figured out the greenhouse effect closer to the start of the industrial revolution than today

This lack of action, is this a human characteristic, a capitalist characteristic, or a Western characteristic? I ask because through most of recent history and especially today, it feels like the general population of each country has little to zero real control over what happens within their borders, be it at the local or national level. Would we still end up where we are today if a different socioeconomic system(s) dominated the world? I have this nagging feeling we wouldn't be in this mess if people had real control over their government's actions.

Like, if you could give anyone an objective viewpoint and ask them, hey, if we keep doing this there's a high chance we'll damage our children's or grandchildren's ability to produce and procure food and the weather will get really fucky in a bad way, they're going to say we need to change where we get energy asap. I don't believe they'll say anything else unless they think "we need to beat this other nation for reasons that don't benefit me," or "I need to keep doing what I'm doing because that's how I make money and there's no easy alternative."

It just feels like regular people haven't been in control since forever, we're not in control today, and we have no real legal means of seizing control. We either simply don't have control, or we technically do, but are manipulated so thoroughly by those with the means that we have no real control.