Re: what if
There would have been 2 reasons for that:
1) technology was already causing damages to the environment, inducing the need to protect it, even at the time.
2) Religion prevented the mastering of nature.
For the first scenario, our planet would at this time be clean and also technologically advanced (as it already was technology that forced the care for the environment).
For the second scenario, we would still be under the religion's influence and not very far, or we would have banned religions and developed technology regardless of its consequences.
Raoul