The economy will always remain a dependent subset of the environment, and people are finally waking up to this. Always ask what the personal motives are for those acting on each side. For the drillers it is purely profit/jobs. They're not drilling to enhance the biospere for us or other species. For the protesters, they are expressing genuinely held concerns and do not profit materially if they succeed, so really it's only the oil business that has a vested interest in stifling dissent (and our current pro-mining govt). Anyone standing up for their beliefs deserves respect (I guess that includes Balance).