One reason environmental destruction causes anxiety is that new problems continually arise. The pollution problems of the 1970s had clearly identifiable perpetrators and victims, and for a while plant managers were cast as villains. These problems disappeared with advances in antipollution technologies. Next came the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Researchers have predicted how much warmer temperatures will be by the year 2100, but their predictions vary substantially, and interest in the issue remains minimal.
People are quite concerned about waste processing and recycling.
The disposal of wastes will go forward, though, as if it were a natural law. Expect a succession of crises from problems that come out of the blue, like environmental estrogens.