Go look for some mines or other developed resources from 100 years ago. They are not easy to find despite most of them being well documented. I live in a rainforest so things get swallowed by the forest quickly. 100 years here means all exposed wood is nearly gone, iron is a pile of rust and the trees are almost 2 feet across.

Seeing first hand how the environment recovers after disruption tempers the environmental protectionism proclivity. Sure blatant disregard for the environment like dumping barrels of waste in a river is bad. That doesn't mean all resource use and development is.