All of your examples have one thing in common: a very long feedback loop.

Human brains weren't designed to comprehend feedback loops that aren't a few days (hunter/gatherer), weeks (exertion), or a few years at most (gestation, agriculture).

Feedback loops with half a lifetime or more are just impossible unless you practice thinking that way. American's can't even figure out interest rates or long term saving (it is an entirely different argument as to WHY our culture forces people to save for retirement, but I digress). I think most people are too busy or lack the capability to think in terms of long feedback loops.

Or it is the horror of knowing the consequences that cause some people to just shut down and go lalalalalafakenews