You don't have to go all the way to the former Soviet Union or the former Warsaw Pact countries to see a slow response to environmental concerns. When I was transferred to Germany from 1978 to 1980, I was told I couldn't ship a new car over to Europe because they didn't sell unleaded gas there. Leaded gas destroys catalytic converters. It was possible to remove the converter from the car so it could be used over there but it really wasn't worth the bother.

When I came home, I faced a lot of restrictions about shipping a car home. European cars of the time didn't meet US smog requirements so it was illegal to bring one here. There were other issues about the headlights and windshield glass but the emissions requirements were the big problem.

Europe didn't adopt tough emissions requirements on their cars until sometime around the early 1990s, over 15 years after the US. I saw a lot of pollution being released freely into the air from factories that would've plainly been illegal in the US. Frankly, Europe has no grounds to criticize the US about pollution and the environment. They were pretty slow off the mark on these issues.

The pollution was far worse in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Many of those countries were heavily polluted by their "enlightened" socialist/communist leadership.

Environmental concern is often something only wealthy nations can afford. If you go to many 3rd world nations (the so-called "developing nations"), you'll find that most people are far more concerned with feeding their families than with the environment. The results are pretty sad, though. In many cases, they're just making their poverty worse.