So let me get this straight

[JMCKUSICK]

14. I think the difference between these last hundred years or so

Is that we went from being primarily survival oriented where we used what we needed, to becoming consumers of resources, including willful and wanton destruction of life and land for the sole purpose of having more, status, and pleasure.
What makes these last hundred years so harmful is that as more people could afford more, the cycle became more destructive in that we didn't just consume more, we demanded even more.
Sadly I'll add that it is we, the American economy/consumer that bears the blame as our voracious consumption didn't just use so much more than most, but created that "Keeping up with the Jones" effect that
just made things exponentially worse.