The human stupidity issue arises partly from people's intense desire to believe that it's "ok", or safe for them, to embark on a risky course of action, having been informed of the risks. People want to have it both ways. They want the rewards of doing a risky thing-- the up-side, as it were-- but they want to dodge the down-side and be insulated from harm or loss when things go wrong.
It's a reasonable thing to want or desire. I want and desire a lot of things that aren't good for me, that I'm not going to get. This is why we have fantasies. But when it gets to the point where people want to act them out, eventually logical fallacies and sloppy thinking tend to dominate.
"It must be OK to do X, because these people did it and lived. The risk must be imaginary, or fake news, or the person telling me about the risk must have some financial incentive to discourage me." Repeat this long enough, and you get people who genuinely believe it's legal to drive five miles per hour over the posted speed limit, and that the cop who pulls them over is being evil and unreasonable.
Real estate developers aren't environmental scientists. Unless there's a regulatory authority dictating what environmental studies must be done after development, they don't assess the impact of the new development on the existing ecology. To cut down "just a few" trees from the windbreak seems like no big deal, although there's a cumulative effect when hundreds or even thousands of similar people are also dipping their beaks. A thousand beak dippers at the birdbath, each taking just a tiny amount, can have a big enough cumulative effect to permanently change the weather in the area. No individual raindrop believes it's responsible for the flood.
There was a time I fantasized about living in the St. Augustine area of Florida. After mature consideration I've decided not to retire there. Yes, the weather is a factor. As much as I like citrus and beaches, I don't think I'd enjoy hurricanes, floods, or large numbers of people who are out to get me because I don't bibble-babble to their imaginary sky buddy or do the specific things with my genitalia that they believe would suit their interests.