Roy and Mullet Fingers are the same in their environmental activism in that they both have the same specific end goal. Both boys want to see that the owls are saved, and both boys are willing to stand in the face of strong opposition. Both boys also have the same solution to saving the owls. Their solution is to stop the construction project from happening rather than finding a new building site or moving the owls. The difference is in how they go about trying to stop the construction project in order to save the owls. Mullet Fingers's approach is to sabotage the actual construction project through various forms of vandalism. He takes huge risks doing this because he is breaking the law in order to fight the building of Mother Paula's Pancake House.

On the other hand, Roy is not so willing to break the law in order to fight against the construction to save the owls. Roy's activism is done through legal channels, and he spends a lot of time digging through public records. Roy hits a major breakthrough when he discovers that the environmental impact study report is missing. Roy then takes additional action by giving the information to a reporter, and that allows the media to elevate the story to a level that Roy and Mullet Fingers are not able to achieve by themselves.