SuperSheri to the Rescue!

I say:

I agree with Ishmael when he says we need to let other creatures survive and grow and evolve. Stop deforestation to let plants live. Conserve water to let sea animals live. Stop pollution to let air animals live. Stop urban development to let land animals live. But I also agree with Ishmael when he says, "As long as the people of your culture are convinced that the world belongs to them and that their divinely-appointed destiny is to conquer and rule it, then they are of course going to go on acting the way they've been acting for the past ten thousand years." (Quinn 249). No one will genuinely and sincerely do something if they don't believe in the cause. They have to want to do it, or at least see the reason why they should do it. You can't force people to do something properly otherwise. I've seen this firsthand when I'm working in a group and someone doesn't want to do a task he's been assigned. "You can't change these things with laws. You must change people's minds." (249). In changing someone's mind, we need to improve the Taker's impression of the Leaver lifestyle. And in doing that, we need to inspire them to become Leavers. "People need something positive to work for." "...people need more than to be scolded, more than to be made to feel stupid and guilty. They need more tha na vision of doom. they need a vision of the world and of themselves that inspires them." (244). So yes, stop pollution. Stop deforestation. Stop wasting water and stop constructing over natural land. But don't see it as "stopping", see it as "starting". Starting, inventing, a new way of civilized life that lets other creatures live.