I don't think we'd be more harmonious with the earth if we were not self-aware. I think the idea that animals are in some kind of harmony with nature is a romanticized version of the truth. Even though most of them are by our understanding not self-aware, they're still driven by the same basic selfishness we are. The selfishness stems from the fact that it's the ones who are good at passing on their genes who persist. That does not equal the most harmonious, in fact it often means what we think of as the contrary.
Here's a video from youtube which illustrates my point. It shows infanticide in the animal world, a male lion killing several lion cubs.
It makes perfect sense to do it. They're not his cubs and if they grow up, they could be competitors. Even more important, while the females are weening the cubs, they can't be pregnated by him. If he kills them, the females will get ready to mate again and he can pass on his own genes. The males who employ this strategy do well and pass it on to their offspring and the same is seen in many other species. If they can use resources of the earth to better spread their genes, such adaptive strategies can and will evolve as well - and they have. Animals use the earth as well without any special regard for treating it nice. In Norway, we used to have lemming cycles until recently where the little buggers would come and eat everything during peak years.
The main difference between them and us is that we're smarter so we're better at it. There's a popular myth that humans are "evil" animals. Actually, as an example comparison, populations of chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, can be 1000 times more violent than human populations .. at least according to a professor who lectured in a primate behavioural ecology course!
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