Green can be both the color of nature and the color of prosperity.
Our American economy (and really the world economy) is based on energy. In the modern age, like it or not, energy usually means oil.
So where once we had the "Gold Standard", now we virtually have an "Oil Standard". You may have heard the old joke that the "golden rule" is "he who has the gold makes the rules". Well today, it's more like "he who has the oil makes the rules."
So maybe new technology will bring cleaner renewable energy sources in the future. But how is that technology developed? How can we fund research and development for those new "greener" technologies? Obviously it takes money, and in an energy-based oil-fueled world, it takes oil to make money!
It may seem ironic; but we need to produce more oil now to have the money to research the energy technologies we need to replace oil in the future. When we have the new technologies to produce cheaper, cleaner, and renewable energy; use of oil will decrease as a result of standard market forces.
"Environmentalists" are fond of pointing out that we all share the same planet, and we need to take care of it. That pollution anywhere can spread to everywhere. Well I agree. So when we depend on other countries, who are not as environmentally conscious as the USA, for our oil; the result is an overall more damaged environment.
That's why my solution as a citizen of the country that has been the greatest source of innovation and new technology and prosperity in the modern world is to realize that we, in the United States of America can do it better, faster, and cleaner. We need to harvest our own domestic oil, both for economic and environmental reasons.
The first result will be more "green" in the bank here at home; for the companies producing oil (for both profits and researching new energy technologies); for people employed by those companies; and for the American economy in general.
The second result will be a greener environment; both because we tend to do even the "dirty-work" cleaner, and because it will get us to the cleaner-energy solutions faster.
