Having grown up in a small town without benefit of the resources of a large Jewish community, I readily identify with the second view. The ultimate criterion is not the level of accomplishment, but the effort required to accomplish anything. It is so much easier to be Jewish in New York than somewhere out in middle America. The lifeline of a strong support system offsets the undertow of assimilation. Noah's virtue was that he preserved a measure of decency in an indecent society, alone and by virtue of constant exertion.
Difficult circumstances are no excuse for abandoning everything.
The effort and commitment it takes to preserve a small corner of Judaism does not go unrewarded. In fact, the Torah implies that Noah was not exactly a paragon of virtue. We are given just enough evidence to see his flaws. I refer to his consistent silence throughout the harrowing flood. Unlike Abraham, he does not raise his voice in protest at the prospect of a global calamity.