I apologize in advance. Please read this without preconceptions.

I often read statements like "humans are destroying the planet" and wonder if they should say "white people and the cultures who imitate them" (namely Japanese, Chinese and Indians in that order).

It's true that prehistoric humans managed to make most big fauna extinct wherever they went. But before the Industrial Revolution, the human ability to harm the planet depended on animal power at best. Waterwheels and the like mechanical devices existed but not enough to cause harm. Fossil fuels fed the Industrial Revolution and really gave humans a so-far-unlimited energy source . Strip mining the earth, huge trawlers raking the seas, fossil fuel burning for locomotion (cars, trains, buses) - none of this was possible before.
Couple that with the unlimited greed - sorry, mercantile spirit tgat Europeans have. Fatal combination.
I don't know if following a monotheistic religion played a part in this.
White may not be a real biological race but in this context, it can be taken as one.

Apologies again for rushing in where angels fear to tread.