For example I recently had a reply to a letter I wrote to the UK Department of the Environment about the dumping of sewage sludge in the sea. They argued that the sea was quite capable of eliminating the amounts of toxin involved, so the dumping did not significantly harm the environment. Here 'ecological responsibility' meant 'doing no more damage to the environment than we can get away with'. And people accept this negative approach where the environment is concerned. When they talk about their garden's potential they do not mean their garden's potential to absorb ill treatment, but to become beautiful and fruitful.
Technological societies work on the basis of two ideas.
One, that what can be exploited, should be exploited. Two, that nature is capable of being exploited infinitely without ill effects. Greens usually attack the second idea and get diverted into fine measurement of exactly what ill effects are resulting from our exploitation of nature. But it is the first idea which is more important. The point is that the exploitative attitude is a wrong relationship to the natural world even when it produces no immediate ill effects.