Aaron Wildavsky wrote that the term pollution is culturally defined, and originally referred to the spiritual pollution of men from coming into contact with women. This is why people still believe Marx. Rich, they think, had to of gotten rich because they robbed from the poor. Environmentalism operates under the same idea. This time its that the environment is a unit.
Environment means 'surroundings', period.
Chop down that tree and armageddon occurs. That's right, nothing. If you chop down a forest, you are not destroying the environment. If you then build a parking lot over it, you still are not destroying the environment. You're changing the environment.