That's an interesting thought and I think you have hit the nail on the head.

If you ask someone where nuclear power can damage the environment, they say yes it can. They understand the damage from fallout because it is local.

But the same person may not believe that coal can damage the environment globally. There is a huge cognitive bias against effects we can't physically see, and understanding the scale of the planet.

This is the same reason we have some people who still believe in the flat earth conspiracy.

The only answer real is education. If educators had a way to help children better create visual models of these things inside their heads, maybe we could all agree on these issues we can't see with our eyes. Maybe VR will help? I don't know. But I would definitely donate to any think tank that was A/B testing educators lessons on global warming.