All the reasonable alternatives pollute more long term. Nobody will accept the idea that they should become a subsistence farmer that never goes farther from home than he can walk (sexism intended).
This is how environmental political activism works: file lawsuits against some new thing because it isn't absolutely perfectly non-polluting and eco-friendly, and force everyone to keep using some old system that's highly polluting and an ecological disaster. For another great example, see nuclear power.
