We keep coming back to China. We've already highlighted the fact that it's the most industrialized nation on Earth, and perhaps we shouldn't completely blame them for that. All countries have to make money, and the Chinese have proven to be especially effective at finding solutions for that.
Not all of those solutions are great for the planet. This ornate looking overhead shot is actually field upon field of farmland, all devoted to growing only one kind of plant. Such fields are all over China and many neighboring countries. By planting so many of the same kind of crop, farmers have driven out what used to be here. That's usually a thriving forest, or a 'natural' field where many other forms of plant grew side by side. A diverse ecosystem is well defended against many kinds of natural disaster. Fields of a single species are not; they're just one outbreak of disease away from becoming barren.