I'm a writer. By definition, that makes me one of the caretakers of our heritage. Since I can do better than that, I have to do better than that. Now to your question. An artist ought to be able to say why she wrote a particular book.
People are suckers for mindless beach-reading.
I can't singlehandedly save the rainforests, but maybe I can get a few readers on my side. And maybe then the effect will spiral out. And then maybe we can start figuring out a way to stop the destruction of our only home. Including the beaches. I believe, to paraphrase Shelley, that books can determine how we think and how much we think and the things we think about.