The Catholic Church and the environment

The Catholic Church has recently been almost condemned for not caring about the environment, compared to other religions around the world. The Catholic Church has always cared for all of God's creations, and that includes the environment, but they haven't been as involved as other faiths.
Many people may not fully understand the Catholic Church's position, but to my understanding, based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, this is what it is: The Church is alright with using natural resources, as long as it is beneficial to humankind and you must keep in mind the future generations of the world.
The environment is an important issue for the Church, but they teach that we can use what God created for us, in order to better the world (within reason, of course). The Catholic Church does stress that we should take care of our home and respect it, because everything on it was created by God, and everything deserves dignity.
This teaching of the Catholic Church on the environment is backed up by an ethical framework made up of 5 principles.