This reminds me of a prog I watched some years back about Easter Island. Apparently it once had a lush forest, but people needed firewood in the process of splitting large rock into smaller one which they then made into the famous statues, so trees were cut down one after the other until eventually all were gone. The prog maker then said:'When they cut down the last tree, they must had realised it was the last tree on the island yet they cut it down......'
So I guess human haven't evolved much over the centuaries.