We each leave behind the best and the strongest deposit that we can so that the reef can grow. It is about adding. The reef is global even if the project is local, one polyp at a time, one deposit at a time. The polyp, of course, does not understand about the reef, its behavior being sculpted by natural selection. But the dynamics of cultural evolution are not Darwinian.
Cultural evolution is Lamarckian because acquired characteristics are inherited.
We and we alone make cultural choices and they can be made quickly. We somehow need to learn to fear greed, reward idealism, and deconstruct our aversion to intelligent political and spiritual leadership. Then we'll get somewhere. One resource that we have always taken for granted is water. But by not being concerned about it, we now find that our ocean and inland waters are polluted and that our supply of drinking water is in jeopardy.