It caused the rip tides like rise of Hitler or the reason Italy and Japan fell to facism and the US went ahead did their own treaties with the defeated.
Reduced dependence on nonrenewable resources
Our dependence on fossil fuels has actually increased dramatically as more and more people own vehicles. Vehicles are becoming more efficient, but with so many on the road at once, we're burning through our nonrenewable resources fast. It may not happen on our lifetimes, but we'll run out eventually and unless we find a better source of energy by then, we'll be in a bad situation.
The main issue that was debated by Lincoln and Douglas was slavery.