Looks like you're getting downvoted, but it seems kind of obvious this is the case. Technology has allowed more people to exist, and more people are using more energy and more resources.

I think it causes cognitive dissonance in that people want the current world and lifestyle to be sustainable because they like it due to it having a lot of fun and comfortable things, and don't wish to consider the idea that it may just may be fatally flawed.

It sounds like guilt by association and ignores the importance of incentive structures. Economies that allow actors to foist pollution costs on others will have more pollution than is economically optimal. This isn't because of the industry creating the pollution, it's because of the economic structure allowing the negative externalities.