In the August 4 Ethics Newsline , you’ll find the results of a research report that asked the question: Which is more important: Economic Growth or the Environment? The answer to this question, from a Harris poll, is:

“As economic conditions worsen, people who are asked to make a decision between protecting the environment or economic growth and development have moved even more strongly into the economic growth column.”

Why do we ask people to make a (false) decision between protecting the environment and economic growth? Such questions reinforce the regressive perspectives that continually influence us to take sides that don’t serve us. They narrow our vision and stifle our creativity. They are either/or dead-ends instead of both/and possibilities.

We must reframe such questions and ask instead: “What can we do to simultaneously protect the environment and create a healthy economy?”

The pollsters won’t have an easy time analyzing the answers because they’ll receive creative ideas that require pages to describe, but they will have meaningful responses to actually solve economic and environmental challenges. Wouldn’t that be nice?

~ Zoe