If the grey man does not care about anyone, why should he have goals that affect the world?
The grey man feels to have a debt with the world, he recieved the gift of life, and that means that the world expects him to be usefull, to use this gift.
He feels guilty of the state of this world, and of these people whose usefulness is comparable to a rock.The grey man wants to leave a better world than the one lived at.
Some of the grey man goals are referred to that, they can be ecologist, researching projects, studying the past to understand the world ...
But these goals are not referred to the other people. We can say that he cares about the world, he looks after it. That way he will pay that debt, and he will become absolved of guilt.