Assuming the senior female was in her eighties, and that the conversation took place recently, she was born no earlier than the later 1920s.

What were things like then? I can only speak for the UK working class, into which my parents were born.

Reasonable seewage treatment in most townas and all cities.
Almost everyone used public transport or pushbikes, or walked.
Clothes, except for the privileged, had to last for years, unless (women) made their own. Socks were darned and elbows patched.
Fresh produce was relatively locally produced (compared to today).
Energy was tremendously expensive, and very inefficiently used. Heating, and much cooking, used open coal fires, and usually only one room was heated.
Industry was utterly filthy and extremely irresponsible. Rivers were heavily polluted, inefficiently used coal fired boilers filled urban air with smoke and smog. Aberfan- style spoil heaps were ubiquitous. Land and aquifer pollution were the norm.
Money available for leisure was extremely limited. Entertainment was usually communal and often home- made.
Few people travelled further than the seaside town traditional for their community.

The conclusion has to be that they did the "green thing" on a personal basis, from necessity rather than conviction, and that industry and the state were actively opposed to it.

It's interesting that once people developed environmental consciousness, industry and the state promptly exported their jobs to China, where the conditions they prefer prevail. Big business loves waste.