Mind, Desire, and Suffering

Right now I'm reading an interesting book; "Buddha at the Apocalypse," by Kurt Spellmeyer. In it, he talks about what a lot of Buddhist books and scholars talk about; namely, that the source of suffering is the desire for things to be other than they are. Not seeing things as they are is opposite to Right View, one of the branches of the Noble Eight-fold Path.
What's interesting about Mr. Spellmeyer's book is how he equates this wrong view, of wanting things to be different, or to our liking, with what he calls "Apocalyptic thinking," the idea inherent in Abrahamic tradition that time has a beginning and it's on a path toward an end. Since all is slated for destruction at this future "end," there's no need to be conservative with resources, the world, or nature. Another term for this kind of thinking is what Mr. Spellmeyer calls "world despising."
Not only does this kind of thinking cause the thinker to suffer, it causes many, many other sentient beings, people and other creatures, to suffer because as resources and the natural world are consumed, destroyed, or befouled, those sentients find their lives negatively impacted, or even erased altogether.
Looking at the state of our natural world, it's clear that we have to look for a better way. A better way is  not a negative better way, wherein one says, "You shouldn't do 'x'..." but a positive way, wherein one says, "Love your neighbor." In fact, I think someone did say that. If you really loved your neighbor, would you go about polluting his water? Tainting his food? Ruining his air? All of that is world despising and, in Buddhist terms, ego grasping. The polluter is doing it, because he doesn't like things as they are.
If you can bring mindfulness to what you're feeling vis-a-vis the external world, and see that this mind that wants to change things brings suffering, to you and others, perhaps you can shift your perspective a little. It would seem that there is nothing to lose, and a lot to gain.