Here in the States, it was a legitimate effort by the motor and oil industries to quash public transit and force car ownership. Even our parking requirements for commercial zoning turns every city into a sprawl.

We were aware of global warming concerns before the Model T (though the concern then was coal, not petroleum). By then, the Federal government was already heavily influenced by industrial barons who were sore when FDR created the New Deal to prevent a communist revolution. (They were hoping for a dissolution of democracy and a fascist state, and even considered a coup.)

So the US society long bought the ticket to ride this train. But don't look at it as a question of character; we as a species are just not equipped to deal with huge societies and are too easily tempted by holding too much power. No billionaire today looks to diffuse their power or use it to address global concerns, even though they have enough power to do just that. We just haven't yet developed the sociological mechanisms that facilitate huge societies or disperse consolidated power without resorting to violence.

This may well be our great filter.