You are right about this.
we are bombarded with messages constantly telling us to either numb our pain with stuff or to feel so guilty about existing in the world at all and requiring things to continue doing so that it chips away at our soul or actually kills us
Extremes are bad and it never made more sense than on the environmental issues. We can't be so careless that we accelerate the destruction process we've subjected our planet to, nor can we be so touchy to pretend that everybody will practice Jainism or else.
I think that simple things like making good fertilizers our of "trash" can make a difference and if politicians and big corporations really cared about life, they'd be funding innitiatives to make pollution virtually impossible.
The ideas are out there, the human talent, and the potential to follow movements that translate into benefits for everybody.
Right? How is anyone supposed to believe they care about people and life at all when they prevent stopping pollution, and give polluters tax breaks and deregulate them? They're poisoning the world because it makes them super rich. They think they can buy their way out of the consequences.