You have to realize that there is a difference between being an "environmentalist" and being a "conservationist."
The conservationist says, "Let's do things responsibly so we can live well, and so that our children will still have the same opportunities to live well with what we leave behind."
The environmentalist says, "If humans alter anything at all, we've failed."
The results is that the environmentalists push policies that actively hurt people in their attempts to prevent anyone from changing the environment at all. The EPA is currently the most destructive organization in all of America because of all the harm they do in the name of pseudo-environmental causes.
Conservationism is the reason we still have a logging industry that responsibly replants trees for the future and doesn't clear-cut and destroy the land. Environmentalists still protest having access to toilet paper.
Conservationists are the reason that game animal populations in North America are healthy and that people have the opportunity to enjoy hunting. Environmentalists still want wolves to be protected even while they're destroying the livelihoods of poor rural ranchers.
Like many leftist causes environmentalism has the lofty goals of making the world a better place and helping people, but the unintended consequences of trying to achieve those goals does immeasurable harm to people.