Very bad. In antiquity, if an army felt personally slighted by a populace, instead of just burning their crops, they would burn and salt the fields. That would prevent the earth from being arable for generations. The salt prevents plant roots from drawing up water, so until the salt is washed away with enough rain (talking tens to hundreds of years depending on how much salt), nothing will grow.
You can be a German living in America. I knew someone who was born in Germany but moved to the US at the age of 3, spoke German at home, visited Germany over the summer, etc.