Since the issue first became popular in secular culture in the '60s, a number of important articles on the subject have been written based on the very large number of Biblical, Rabbinic and mystical sources that deal with or touch on the issues involved. The source of the prohibition is the Biblical command that soldiers at war not cut down fruit trees to use their wood in besieging an enemy. If limits are imposed on use of natural resources in a situation such as this, then clearly ecological concerns are well-rooted in Jewish tradition. Wanton environmental destruction is certainly prohibited for anyone if it is prohibited for soldiers under the pressure of war and battle. Not only direct acts of wanton destruction are prohibited, but even indirect acts, such as cutting off water sources necessary for the trees to grow are also precluded.
Environmental concerns play a role in other areas as well.
God removed the seven indigent nations of Canaan before the advancing Jews led by Joshua, but only slowly, so that the land would not be barren and the environment thus destroyed. The Book of Jonah ends with God's explanation to the prophet of why the city was so important to Him. Part of the reason is the large number of human inhabitants of the city. They, too, and the environmental concern for their well-being were factored into God's concern, and so too into ours. Further, according to the rabbis, the migrash may not be turned into a field, as it destroys the beauty of the city.