If there were one motto that everyone should be required to contemplate, it's this one. When they discover that we have tried fairly hard to reduce our footprint on the planet, people generally get apologetic and explanatory (as if I want to hear their excuses! but I try to be nice). Generally there are two big strategic points - "Thing are fine, because he Earth is so big that humans can't really change it," and. "It doesn't make a difference, because we're doomed."