Humans have been utilising natural resources to create a sustainable future since antiquity

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Notre Dame cathedral, will still be under renovation after a devastating fire that ignited in the cathedral and burned for 12 hours on April 14, 2019. When the last embers were extinguished, most of Notre Dame's wood and metal roof was destroyed, and its majestic spire had vanished, consumed by flames.
Notre Dame is nearly 1,000 years old and has been damaged and repaired many times. Its last major renovation was in the mid-1800s. The massive beams that framed the structure were fashioned from European oak trees harvested 300 to 400 years ago.
Today, these trees are common throughout north-central Europe, but few are tall enough to replace Notre Dame's roof lattice and spire, thanks to centuries of deforestation. Planners had to search nationwide for enough suitably large oaks for the restoration.

As an archaeologist, I study long-term human interactions with nature. In my new book, «Understanding Imperiled Earth: How Archaeology and Human History Inform a Sustainable Future,» I describe how addressing modern environmental crises requires an understanding of deep history — not just written human records, but also ancient connections between humans and the natural world.
Many people assume that the devastating impacts humans have wrought on our planet came about with the industrial era, which began in the mid-1700s. But people have been transforming conditions on Earth for millennia. Looking backward can inform our journey forward.

From deforestation to reforestation

To see how this works, let's consider the