Question: I think the question in the backs of the minds of many Christians is how much power humans actually have over God's creation. I think the question of responsibility is answered pretty conclusively; God commands us to take care of the planet. But if humanity collectively decided to ruin the planet, would God allow it? How up are we capable of screwing things?
Answer: I believe God gives us a lot of free will and dominion over creation. In the beginning, God said to man, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” Scientists and, it seems, increasing numbers of non-scientists, are seeing how much damage we are doing to the planet. This destruction is not particularly intentional, but that doesn’t particularly matter. Also, our actions bring natural consequences on us, like having to breathe smog when we pollute the air a lot. I think this is the biggest counter action. Psalm 104 especially describes God as still being involved in caring for earth doing things like bringing the night, growing crops, giving animals their food, and taking the breath of life from them. Also, i think the Spirit will advise and warn us on our actions related to environmental responsibility. Taken to the extreme of your hypothetical, i think we would ignore God’s warnings by the Spirit, maybe some prophets, and the environmental scientists, and then cause our own extinction and some amount of life on earth would outlive us. I mean, i consider tardigrades and cockroaches champions of survival. On the other hand, the end of the world prophecies in the Bible are confusing and complex, but they don’t seem to foretell humanities’ doom as being caused entirely by drowning in our own filth. We could get close though. Let’s just agree not to do that, ok?
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