C
Lakshmi: I know that wildflowers are threatened because of the reduced number of suitable spaces where they can grow and that people should generally leave them where they are growing. This large field, however, is full of plants of one wildflower species, and it would be all right for me to take just one plant, since there are so many. Malini: There will not be many there in the future if many people act on your principle. Malini's criticism proceeds by
A: contending that Lakshmi is presupposing that an exception can properly be made for her but not for anyone else
B: relying on the principle that a selfish act is wrong even when it has no harmful effect
C: pointing out that apparently insignificant individual acts of a certain kind can have a large cumulative effect
D: accusing Lakshmi of improper motives instead of responding to Lakshmi's argument