This is a big deal. The world ecosystem is connected. We cannot continue putting poison on the surface and expect what survives to be pallatable. Take oil, coal, gas, chemicals, radioactive materials. It's all poisonous to everything living on the surface. As spills and negligence build over time we will destroy millions of years of balancing that lead to human prevalence and sustenance.
While we are certainly addicted to these poisonous things, that doesn't mean we should do nothing. This isn't a free market reactionary problem and it isn't a state problem. I think this is a world and national problem that requires making hard decisions and setting things like the dreaded emissions standards, coals retirement, or harsher. The economy will survive. We just have to pick a path that gives a crap and stop denying science and critical thinking.