On any problem that won’t become an absolute crisis in the next few decades, someone will take the Bandersnatch view that it will be more easily solved later (with cheaper or more socially acceptable technology) so we shouldn’t work directly on it now. The way out is forward - let’s step on the gas and get to the finish line before any annoying problems catch up with us.

Ah, the black and white fallacy. The approach more likely to succeed is to start mapping out and working toward the potential solutions, among other things, dedicating proportionately more resources to the more immediate and dangerous problems, while still keeping in mind the long-term issues. There are exceptions, of course, but the Adam's law of slow-moving disasters seems to hold pretty well.