Its human nature to do this tho, sadly. Instead of fixing a problem or finding better alternatives we tend to just move on and start at a new spot. Evident by the amount of rubbish that builds up and the food that is wasted.
I feel Elon Musk is at the forefront of both waves though, yes SpaceX is about going to Mars one day but its doing so with re-usable rockets, and the Tesla and SolarCity projects are about clean renewable energies.