[codefreeordie]

> current widespread destruction of the environment

Have a look at the early industrial period or even the 1970s, and then have a look out the window again. There's a bit of a [citation needed] on that claim.

(just this week, for example, there was a study that showed that a major contributor to the increase in the severity of the Atlantic hurricane season in the last decade has been the great reduction in atmospheric pollution)