"Humanity has always taken from the earth - even the hunter gatherers."

This is true, but until cities were built, they also died, defecated and spread seeds on the land as they walked and ate.

The problem is that the 'net usefulness' of humans in cities is a negative number. It doesn't have to be, but cities and other civilizational structures are built for only the extraction side of things as prophets and profits grow based on force and intimidation.

The mean Mean.