LB you are 100% right about the beauty of the world and how we have to appreciate it. The Ramabam you quoted is one that I have always thought a lot about and it holds very true for me. But when Hashem made the world, He made it for Mankind, particularly for Yisroel who would keep the Torah. We are not merely the top of the food chain. Adam is told “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and rule over it”. As rulers, we have a responsibility to the earth but we can use the earth’s resources for our own benefit.
Hashem gave the beaver sharp teeth so that he could chop down trees to build his home. Hashem gave humans a brain and the creative ability to make tools and materials so he can build his home. When the beaver builds his dam, he is not thinking about biodiversity, but how he needs a nice home for his beaver family. When we build our cities, we are thinking about how they will benefit humankind. Unlike the beaver, we can think about the consequences of our actions, and can come up with solutions to remedy them. But we cannot lose site of the fact that Hashem did not create the world and then abandon it to its own devices. Without His constant hashgacha the world would not be. So it is presumptuous of us puny humans to think that our physical actions are what is preserving this world.
Other than Torah learning, of course, as we are told that the whole creation was in suspension until “yom Hashishi”, the sixth day of Sivan when the Torah was given. And as the mishne in Avos says, the world stands on 3 things: torah, avoda (service, tefilla) and gemilus chasadim (righteous deeds).
So as a growing Jew who cares about the world he/she lives in, the best way to preserve it is thru learning Torah and doing G-d’s will.