It is our job to tend to the Earth:
(כח) וַיְבָ֣רֶךְ אֹתָם֮ אֱלֹהִים֒ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר לָהֶ֜ם אֱלֹהִ֗ים פְּר֥וּ וּרְב֛וּ וּמִלְא֥וּ אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ וְכִבְשֻׁ֑הָ וּרְד֞וּ בִּדְגַ֤ת הַיָּם֙ וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וּבְכׇל־חַיָּ֖ה הָֽרֹמֶ֥שֶׂת עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃
(28) God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.”
(טו) וַיִּקַּ֛ח יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֑ם וַיַּנִּחֵ֣הוּ בְגַן־עֵ֔דֶן לְעׇבְדָ֖הּ וּלְשׇׁמְרָֽהּ׃
(15) God יהוה settled the Human in the garden of Eden, to till it and tend it.
רְאֵה אֶת מַעֲשֵׂה הָאֱלֹהִים כִּי מִי יוּכַל לְתַקֵּן אֵת אֲשֶׁר עִוְּתוֹ, בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁבָּרָא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֶת אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן, נְטָלוֹ וְהֶחֱזִירוֹ עַל כָּל אִילָנֵי גַּן עֵדֶן, וְאָמַר לוֹ, רְאֵה מַעֲשַׂי כַּמָּה נָאִים וּמְשֻׁבָּחִין הֵן, וְכָל מַה שֶּׁבָּרָאתִי בִּשְׁבִילְךָ בָּרָאתִי, תֵּן דַּעְתְּךָ שֶׁלֹא תְקַלְקֵל וְתַחֲרִיב אֶת עוֹלָמִי, שֶׁאִם קִלְקַלְתָּ אֵין מִי שֶׁיְתַקֵּן אַחֲרֶיךָ, וְלֹא עוֹד שֶׁאַתְּ גּוֹרֵם מִיתָה לְאוֹתוֹ צַדִּיק.
(1) “See the work of God, for who can mend what He has warped?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13) “See the work of God, for who can mend what He has warped?” When the Holy One blessed be He created Adam the first man, He took him and showed him all the trees in the Garden of Eden, and He said to him: ‘See My creations, how beautiful and exemplary they are. Everything I created, I created for you. Make certain that you do not ruin and destroy My world, as if you destroy it, there will be no one to mend it after you. Moreover, you will cause death to that righteous one.’
Incentives in Education - Not Ideal... But Neccessary:
RAMBAM – Maimonides:
Imagine a small child who has been brought to his teacher so that he may be taught the Torah, which is his ultimate good because it will bring him to perfection. However, because he is only a child and because his understanding is deficient, he does not grasp the rue value of that good, nor does he understand the perfection which he can achieve by means of Torah. Of necessity, therefore, his teacher, who has acquired greater perfection than the child loves in childish way. Thus, the teacher may say, “Read and I will give you some nuts or figs; I will give you a bit of honey.” With this stimulation the child tries to read. He does not work hard for the sake of reading itself, since he does not understand its value. He reads in order to obtain the food. Eating these delicacies is far more important to him than reading, and a greater good to him. Therefore, although he thinks of study as work and effort, he is willing to do it in order to get what he wants, a nut or a piece of candy.
(Maimonides’ introduction to the Mishna, Perek Helek)
NO Incentives for Mitzvot!
(ג) אַנְטִיגְנוֹס אִישׁ סוֹכוֹ קִבֵּל מִשִּׁמְעוֹן הַצַּדִּיק. הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, אַל תִּהְיוּ כַעֲבָדִים הַמְשַׁמְּשִׁין אֶת הָרַב עַל מְנָת לְקַבֵּל פְּרָס, אֶלָּא הֱווּ כַעֲבָדִים הַמְשַׁמְּשִׁין אֶת הָרַב שֶׁלֹּא עַל מְנָת לְקַבֵּל פְּרָס, וִיהִי מוֹרָא שָׁמַיִם עֲלֵיכֶם:
(3) Antigonus a man of Socho received [the oral tradition] from Shimon the Righteous. He used to say: do not be like servants who serve the master in the expectation of receiving a reward, but be like servants who serve the master without the expectation of receiving a reward, and let the fear of Heaven be upon you.
(א) אנטיגנוס איש סוכו קבל משמעון הצדיק הוא היה אומר אל תהיו כעבדים המשמשים את הרב על מנת לקבל פרס אלא היו כעבדים המשמשים את הרב שלא על מנת לקבל פרס ויהי מורא שמים עליכם כדי שיהיה שכרכם כפול לעתיד לבא:
(ב) אנטיגנוס איש סוכו היו לו שני תלמידים שהיו שונין בדבריו והיו שונים לתלמידים ותלמידים לתלמידיהם עמדו ודקדקו אחריהן ואמרו מה ראו אבותינו לומר [דבר זה] אפשר שיעשה פועל מלאכה כל היום ולא יטול שכרו ערבית אלא אילו היו יודעין אבותינו שיש עולם [אחר] ויש תחיית המתים לא היו אומרים כך. עמדו ופירשו מן התורה ונפרצו מהם שתי פרצות צדוקין וביתוסין צדוקים על שום צדוק ביתוסין על שום ביתוס. והיו משתמשין בכלי כסף וכלי זהב כל ימיהם שלא היתה דעתן גסה עליהם אלא צדוקים אומרים מסורת הוא ביד פרושים שהן מצערין עצמן בעוה״ז ובעוה״ב אין להם כלום:
(1) Antigonos, man of Socho, received from Shimon the Righteous. He would say, "Do not be as servants who are serving the master in order to receive a reward, rather be as servants who are serving the master not in order to receive a reward; and may the fear of Heaven be upon you, so that your reward might be doubled in the age to come.
(2) Antigonus of Socho had two students who used to study his words. They taught his teachings to their disciples, and their deciples to their disciples. They carefully examined his words closely, and said: "How could our sages say such a thing." Should a laborer do all of his work and not take his reward in the evening. If our ancestors had known that there was a world to come, and that there will be a resurrection of the dead, they would not have spoken this way.
So they arose and withdrew from Torah and split into two sects, the Sadducees and the Boethusians: The Sadducees named after Tzaddok, Boethusians, after Boethus. They used silver and gold all of their lives because they were ostentatious; The Sadducees said, " It is a tradition among the Pharisees to afflict themselves in this word; yet in the world to come they have nothing.
Wait... but maybe there are incentives for doing mitzvot?
מתני׳ כל העושה מצוה אחת מטיבין לו ומאריכין לו ימיו ונוחל את הארץ וכל שאינו עושה מצוה אחת אין מטיבין לו ואין מאריכין לו ימיו ואינו נוחל את הארץ:
MISHNA: Anyone who performs one mitzva has goodness bestowed upon him, his life is lengthened, and he inherits the land, i.e., life in the World-to-Come. And anyone who does not perform one mitzva does not have goodness bestowed upon him, his life is not lengthened, and he does not inherit the land of the World-to-Come.
Do Incentives Even Work?
Stephen Dubner
(Author of Freakanomics, Super Freakanomics, and How to Think Like a Freak)
One thing that's a fairly good general rule is that we believe very much societally in the power of moral incentives—urging people to do the right thing because it's the right thing.
But the data show that that rarely works. It doesn't mean people are immoral. It just turns out that moral incentives typically are not very successful, which doesn't mean they won't work in some cases.
Financial incentives aren’t necessarily better. But social incentives are often really strong—what you might call the “herd mentality.” If you want people to do “the right thing,” whatever that is, you don’t tell them, “You should do this because you’ll be a better person for it; it's the right thing to do.”
That will typically produce a much weaker outcome than if you simply tell people, “Did you know that a lot of your neighbors or people in your community are doing this thing? You might want to think about doing it, too.” And that kind of herd mentality or social incentive is typically stronger than a moral incentive.
The other thing about incentives is that a lot of them are created by people in a position of authority or power, who happen to be so in part because they're very disciplined, motivated, rational people.
They create incentives that they would respond to, but then, they unleash them into the world where not everybody is as disciplined and rational and motivated as they are. That will often lead to a failure.
Halachically (according to Jewish law) this is tricky...
אַרְבָּעָה נְדָרִים הִתִּירוּ חֲכָמִים, נִדְרֵי זֵרוּזִין, וְנִדְרֵי הֲבַאי, וְנִדְרֵי שְׁגָגוֹת, וְנִדְרֵי אֳנָסִים. נִדְרֵי זֵרוּזִין, כֵּיצַד. הָיָה מוֹכֵר חֵפֶץ וְאָמַר, קוֹנָם שֶׁאֵינִי פוֹחֵת לְךָ מִן הַסֶּלַע, וְהַלָּה אוֹמֵר, קוֹנָם שֶׁאֵינִי מוֹסִיף לְךָ עַל הַשֶּׁקֶל, שְׁנֵיהֶן רוֹצִין בִּשְׁלֹשָׁה דִינָרִין. רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר בֶּן יַעֲקֹב אוֹמֵר, אַף הָרוֹצֶה לְהַדִּיר אֶת חֲבֵרוֹ שֶׁיֹּאכַל אֶצְלוֹ, אוֹמֵר, כָּל נֶדֶר שֶׁאֲנִי עָתִיד לִדֹּר הוּא בָטֵל, וּבִלְבַד שֶׁיְּהֵא זָכוּר בִּשְׁעַת הַנֶּדֶר:
Four types of vows the Sages have invalidated: Vows of incentive, vows of exaggeration, vows in error, and vows [broken] under pressure. Vows of incentive how so? If one was selling an article and said, “Konam that I will not reduce below a sela”; and the other replied, “Konam that I will not add above a shekel” both of them want [a price] of three denarii. Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob says: Also one who wishes to subject his friend to a vow to eat with him, may say: “Every vow which I may make in the future shall be void”, providing that he remembers this at the time of the vow.
Will you really do it after you receive the incentive?
וְאִי אָמַר: ״מַיְיתִינָא לָךְ אָסְיָא רַחִיקָא״, אֲמַר לֵיהּ: ״אָסְיָא רַחִיקָא – עֵינָא עָוַירא״.
And if the one who caused the injury says to the injured party: I will bring you a doctor from a distant place, the injured party may say to him: A doctor from a distant place blinds the eye. A local doctor has an incentive to ensure that the patient fully heals, while a doctor from a distant place has no incentive to monitor the patient once he has received his fee.
Who's job is it really? The individual or the community?
Such an obligation does not exist with regard to construction of fortifications; no individual is liable for more than his proportionate share of the total expenditure. This is so because, in the circumstances described, there exists no imminent danger. Fortifications are commonly erected, not to protect against present danger, but in anticipation of future contingencies. Precaution against future danger is not an individual obligation but a societal one. Society as a whole must assure that there are lifeguards, physicians and firemen trained to perform their functions and must provide facilities and incentives for the training of such personnel, but no individual is obliged to enter those professions or to volunteer his services in performing such functions. Any member of society may demand that a wall be constructed and that locks and bolts be provided. An individual who expresses a legitimate concern with regard to possible danger and proposes a cogent means for its alleviation must be heard and his demands fulfilled. The obligation to protect against danger of this nature rests upon society as a whole rather than upon any individual.