Yehudis – that’s what the RCA quotes in their proclamation about environmentalism. Guess where else that medrash has been used in that context? Yep, that’s right – never. No one ever interpreted it that way, except the RCA rabbis who darshen up the new york times every shabbos.
Where has it been used? In the mesilas yeshorim, where he says not to destroy the world with our sins, the only actual potential for harm that’s possible. As the rambam says, one who attributes suffering to nature or other physical causes brings more suffering to the world, ignoring the spiritual causes and messages from Hashem.
AAQ, rav hirsch was aware of many species claimed to be extinct. He held that they’re not; the fact that scientists don’t see them doesn’t mean that they are – lo rainu einoh rayah. Scientists also sometimes find species that they thought were extinct.
It’s not a “hashaarah” like his view of the Germans. For that, it took someone like the Gaon to see past their outward appearance. Not all gedolim are the same.