Of the 55 refineries closed in America in the last 10 years they were all closed for economic reasons mostly oil company mergers. Not a single one was closed for environmental purposes or objections.

But reducing harmful emissions abating our dependence on foreign oil and developing alternative renewable energy sources have benefits that go beyond environmental health they improve personal health enhance national security and encourage our nation's economic viability.

Global markets must be balanced by global values such as respect for human rights and international law democracy security and sustainable economic and environmental development.

More than ever before there is a global understanding that long-term social economic and environmental development would be impossible without healthy families communities and countries.

New Zealand needs to balance its environmental responsibilities with its economic opportunities because the risk is that if you don't do that - and you want to lead the world - then you might end up getting unintended consequences.

The wave of new productive enterprises would provide opportunities to remedy the unjust distribution of environmental hazards among economic classes and racial and ethnic communities.

Environmental quality was drastically improved while economic activity grew by the simple expedient of removing lead from gasoline - which prevented it from entering the environment.

By adopting the control strategy the nation's environmental program has created a built-in antagonism between environmental quality and economic growth.

I'm a latecomer to the environmental issue which for years seemed to me like an excuse for more government regulation. But I can see that in rich societies voters are paying less attention to economic issues and more to issues of the spirit including the environment.

At every turn when humanity is asked the question 'Do you want temporary economic gain or long-term environmental loss which one do you prefer ' we invariably choose the money.