Re: dominion over all things great and small - it's interesting that this seems clearly to be how this line ought to be interpreted now, but that it has been read in the opposite way for much of history. The idea of Stewardship in the context of Christianity is relatively new, and this same line was often interpreted as "all this splendor is made for us to use as we please". Also, interesting to see the idea of Adam as "master" (Gen 1:26) of all living things and the reading that Eve becomes just one more thing to master in the Fall.
I know original words and translations mean a lot, so I'm kind of curious as to what the original text meant. Even if they meant "dominion" as a king, ruler type concept (which if we really wanted to dig into this we could bring in the whole argument of Divine Right of Kings), a good ruler has to be responsible and compassionate. The logic strikes me as frustratingly infantile and tenuous and I bet you my dinner that a lot of people in authority, both in official government and church capacity as philisophical thinkers, knew better. They just wanted easy outs to justify crummy behavior. The entire New Testament was almost like hitting a theological reset button, where the new word of the day, as revealed by God, is "compassion." If your theological arguments don't hold up to the ideals of that virtue, there's a good chance they need to strongly be reevaluated.