Answer: The differences in the way in which the Native Americans and the European settlers were interacting with the environment are total contrasts.
The Native Americans lived in harmony with the environment. If they took down a tree for their needs, they were going to plant another one on that place. They hunted only enough for their basic needs and nothing more, plus were careful what they hunt, in which period of the year. They were not familiar with the minerals, so they were not doing any damage with mining. The European settlers, on the other hand, were taking down lot of timber and suing it for building, for melting ore, or for heating. They started to exploit the minerals in the regions, which led to mining, and to an inevitable pollution and destruction of those areas. They were over-hunting, without taking in consideration that they may eliminate some species. Started to build infrastructure, either in forested areas that were cleaned for that purpose, or on fertile land.
The New England colonies developed an economy based on shipbuilding, fishing, lumbering, small-scale subsistence farming, and eventually manufacturing.
