Nothing makes sense except in the light of evolution.  Why would we be destroying nature at our current rate if we can see it will be to our detriment in the long run?  Well, for millions of years, our ancestors did not need to worry about the environment.  50,000 years ago, a person could not pollute the environment even if he wanted to.  Fifty thousand years ago, there were fewer than half a million people on the planet.  We were insignificant, and it did not matter how we treated the environment. 

Also, fifty thousand years ago, nature was trying pretty hard to kill us.  We were hunted by snakes, lions, jackals, and who knows what else.  We were being killed by famine and drought, ice ages, volcanic eruptions, and just the hazards of trying to make a living with our bare hands or primitive tools. 

For hundreds of thousands of years, nature was trying to kill us, and we couldn't harm nature even if we wanted to.  Only in the last five hundred years or so have we had the ability to seriously harm nature.  (Humans may have killed off the megafauna of North America over five thousand years ago, but ecosystems adjusted and thrived.)  Only in the last two hundred years or so have we been able to greatly reduce our chances of being killed by wildlife and natural disasters.  We evolved patterns of behavior and instincts during a time when environmentalism would have made no sense.  Protect nature?  Why?  I'm more interested in protecting my self from nature. 

We have conquered the traditional causes of death, and now the things most likely to kill us are man made.  You are much more likely to die from an unhealthy diet, cigarette smoke, or a car accident than you are likely to die from a snake bite or a lion attack.  Of the top 97 causes of death in the US, at least 25 can have human actions as a contributing cause.  Attack by a wild animal or bad weather do not even make the list.  The only one of the top 97 causes that might have nature as a contributing factor would be poisonings.  Well,  some diseases are natural, but that has little to do with nature in the sense of ecosystems. 

If humans are evolutionarily predisposed to harm nature, how would we stop this destruction?  It needs to be a conscious choice based on reason.  Or, it could be based on love.  There is much to love in the natural world, and we won't be able to reproduce this delicate fabric once it's gone.