Business interests have framed the environmental debate in terms of a false dichotomy:
Prosperity vs. Stagnation.
Jobs vs. Environment.
Regulation vs. Freedom.
But the fact is that preserving and protecting nature is not just about tree-hugging and Gaia-worshiping and hippies capering about. Ecologically sound practices are an economic factor we must consider. Protecting nature is not just about sacrificing construction jobs, but about looking at what natural environments do for us, as an biospheric infrastructure. You wouldn’t build a factory in the middle of an water treatment plant … why would you do it in the middle of a water treatment plant that happens to be a wetland?
There are reasons to appreciate and preserve nature beyond purely economic ones. But, too often, economic arguments are the ones that win the day, and excluding the economic aspects of ecology is a fool’s game.