Reference

Ecclesiastes 8:14

There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.
12

Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:

13

But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.

14

There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.

15

Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.

16

When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)

Counter-Arguments

The strongest case that this verse does not belong in this theme.

Creation Corruption (Sin Affects Earth)

This verse describes a social or moral inversion where good people suffer and bad people prosper, attributing this to "vanity" or meaninglessness in human experience, rather than explicitly linking it to the physical corruption or groaning of the earth itself. The "vanity which is done upon the earth" refers to human affairs and their perceived lack of justice, not the ecological state of the planet.