Final answer:
The lower environmental abuses in the Americas were due to pre-Columbian societies' limited technology and isolated development, the continent's large geographical capacity, and stricter environmental standards in certain high-income American countries during the 20th century.
Step-by-step explanation:
There were various reasons for the relatively lower environmental abuses in the Americas during specific historical periods compared to continents like Europe. One major factor is that pre-Columbian societies in the Americas, such as the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations, had limited technologies and were not connected into one international system, which meant that their environmental impact was localized and less intensive than the interconnected trade networks in Europe that encouraged large-scale resource exploitation. Another reason is the geographical diversity and size of the Americas, ranging from polar regions to rainforests, which allowed for a larger capacity to absorb environmental impacts compared to smaller and more densely populated areas in Europe.
Furthermore, the pre-industrial societies had different economic foundations, such as the absence of domesticated animals like horses and cows, and lacked key agricultural technologies like the wheel and iron tools, which limited the scope and scale of environmental modification. In contrast, European societies had been extensively modifying their environments for millennia, leading to greater environmental degradation by the time of the Industrial Revolution.
Additionally, during the 20th century, as environmental awareness grew, high-income countries in the Americas such as the United States and Canada implemented stricter environmental standards. This is in contrast to the situation in Europe, where despite having some of the strictest environmental regulations in the world, the legacy of heavy industrialization and smaller geographic space resulted in greater cumulative environmental impacts over time.