Natural
Order
Throughout creation there is a profound but fluctuating natural system or order. Many factors can and do change that order, so it is not a static "balance" as has long been held in popular thought, it is what the scientific community would call a closed loop system. It is an ever-changing system of interlocking relationships among plant and animal species and their environment. If one year the rains are right and there is enough food for a superabundance of rabbits to thrive, the next year more predators will have survived to maturity so their numbers will be up. In a bad year both populations will decline.
For most of human history we have been constrained from overriding this system in any widespread, lasting manner. While individual species might have been hunted to extinction or local wells depleted, worldwide effects were not felt.
In hunting societies, for example, if too many people concentrated in an area, resources were depleted and people had to spread out or starve.
In agricultural societies, if too much water was pulled from the ground wells went dry, crops withered and again people had to move or face drought and famine.
Modern technology has changed much of that, propping up systems that if left to natural forces would topple. However, modern technology can and does frequently only obscure the fact that the system is unstable and only lets us dig ourselves deeper into the hole.
One of the most detrimental aspects of our technological advancement is the fact that it has divorced us from our environment. The problem is compounded by a widespread belief that we have been given dominion over the earth, that we can use and abuse it as we will. We have done so with little understanding or regard for the long term consequences. Predators have been killed off leaving rabbits, deer and others without the natural winnowing system that kept their species strong. Food is transported into even the most remote areas and water is piped across vast areas to fields in even arid lands allowing much greater local populations than could be naturally sustained. Large amounts of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and other unnatural substances continually flow into our water systems and ultimately the ocean ….
Not all of human impact has been bad in and of itself. However, it has reflected a certain arrogance, and the cumulative effects in a system that we have not understood has meant that we have often used technology in an ignorant and irresponsible manner. Now it is catching up with us as visual pollution, global warming, acid rain and a laundry list of other local and global problems threaten to overwhelm us.
They resorted to arrogance on earth, and evil scheming, and the evil schemes only backfire on those who scheme them. Should they then expect anything but the fate of those who did the same things in the past? You will find that God's system is never changeable; you will find that God's system is immutable. Quran 35:43
Fortunately more and more people are recognizing the problems we face. Where steps have been taken to deal with major environmental issues recovery has often been faster than anticipated. But there is much, much more that must be done and as soon as possible.