Even in the 80's and we could go as far back as the 70's, climate activism was robustly supported by many sectors of society, media and popular culture. Not as much as it is today but far ahead of a doctor being literally destroyed and later killed through negligent detention for his views.

I've never heard of paper activism as an actual cause. Interesting, and definitely less known than the others it seems.

Indeed, the grim fate of Semmelweis is extreme. But think, for example, of Ken Saro-Wiwa, who fought Big Oil and was executed.

As for paper - I suspect that written letter communication leaves a much smaller footprint than sending emails and printing on demand. However, I have no evidence of this yet.

But https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/ has something about the rebound effect exceeding the initial savings.