Joseph,
“What’s climate change, or even societal population growth as a general matter, have to do how much population growth a particular city experiences?”
Hashem created Earth as a place for humans to live, and gave us dominion over it – i.e., we can change it and shape it to suit our needs. Building cities and farms, utilizing its resources, etc. By cities, we can clearly recognize the need for planning and smart usage of resources (space) in order to provide benefit for as many people as possible. I’m contending that we should view the Earth as a whole in the same way. Thus, using that moshol, excessive carbon released into the atmosphere is equivalent to congested traffic.
The philosophical distinction as I see it is this: the secular environmentalists see Earth itself as more important than humanity, thus if carbon emissions are changing things, humans are a problem and must be stopped. In contrast to this, I believe that Hashem gave humans the privilege to use Earth for sustenance, enjoyment, and for increase. Therefore, carbon emissions are a bad thing only if they can cause a negative impact for humanity. Both philosophies are capable of addressing climate science, but the ideas and policies that could potential flow from them are very different.