Blogs
In the United States, people in privileged areas spend money excessively buying things and doing things without caring what the impact on the environment is. In such privileged areas, people have the opportunity to do such things and are raised doing so, and while sheltered within this little bubble of their community, they think that it's alright and normal.
In California, there was a gold rush, similar to Australia's, where people rushed to get rich. Even the government was scrambling to get rich off of the gold and the people getting it. No one was worrying about the effects of what was happening. Huge environment issues followed the Gold Rush, like the destruction of forests and drainage of water, which killed a lot of wildlife.
When the first colonists came to America, they wiped out most of the Native American population. The indigenous communities were destroyed and much culture was unfortunately lost. The colonists also destroyed many forests and depleted resources.
Throughout history, a lot of people were focused on the present and what they wanted, not caring about the future.
