The issue is that no matter what continent, humans have a strong and sometimes irreversible effect wherever we live, which manifests in different ways. Jdub has a point, as well. While some people refer to it as "destroying the environment", thats not an entirely true statement. A more whole statement would be "humans destroy the environment as we know it today." While I'm not advocating the fact that everything we do to this planet is commendable, there has always been some force for change on this planet, and there always will be. It's partly human values that we feel the need to preserve things exactly as they are forever and ever. The dinosaurs were wiped out with absolutely no human interaction, and chances are the human race will be wiped out for some reason in the future long before our planet ceases to be. ALL humans, all over the world, exhibit some lasting effect on the planet and its environment. While the extinction of a unique species is certainly unfortunate, it is also part of the evolution of the planet and will continue long after we have returned to the dust of the earth.