To be sure you are marking a fundamental change in human society borders on the impossible--such events happen just a few times a century, and (barring things like ecological collapse) rarely with anyone's ability to see at the time that anything has changed.

FORBES

Even as much of their country prospers, environmental problems are so severe in the impoverished north and west (along the Russian border) that, in tandem with the collapse of state-owned enterprises, they've created at least 100 million economic and ecological refugees.

FORBES: Magazine Article