I doubt anyone found it surprising when a recent Pew Research Poll revealed that the top policy priority for most Americans is currently the economy. Indeed, times are tough and wallets are thin, and most Americans are feeling the crunch. But what is alarming is how these polls indicate that the growing concern for the economy seems to be coming at the expense of concern for the environment.

As economic woes escalated, rankings for the environment plummeted 15 points over last year’s numbers, which was the biggest drop in priority among all of the issues polled.

This brings up an important question: Why are these two issues seemingly seen at such odds with one another?

The reason may stem from the fact that the structure of the American economy, and perhaps the American mindset itself, is fundamentally out of touch with reality.

A sharp dichotomy between the economy and the environment has long presented itself in American politics. For the average consumer, it often cashes out as an erroneous conception that what’s good for the environment is bad for their bottom line. For example, people are typically concerned that tighter environmental controls mean that their bills will be higher, especially when it comes to their electricity and energy usage. They often believe that protections placed upon our forests, oceans and waterways get in the way of good paying American jobs in the logging, fishing or transportation industries. When pressed, most folks would probably assert that they’d always put people first, before the environment– as if people and their environments could be fundamentally separated.

Basically, it’s common for Americans to view a healthy environment as an expense rather than as an asset. And so when times get stingy and people have to make hard decisions about what to prioritize, they let their concerns for a healthy environment fall by the wayside.

The problem here is that the economy is an invented, abstract thing, while the environment essentially encompasses everything that is real and concrete. By prioritizing the economy in such a way that minimizes the environment, Americans seem to be forgoing reality, as if to say that the economy is more real than the air we breath, the water we drink, or the health of the food and resources we harness.

Instead of cashing out into tangible things, the American economy has become a chimerical ouroboros, abstractly designed to accrue profit through investment in the financial sector itself. It’s no wonder that the value of real wealth has been lost in the process. As an old Cree poet once astutely pointed out: we cannot eat money. It turns out– as this economic crisis firmly demonstrates– money can’t eat itself either.

If a lasting economic rescue package is going to be implemented, there must be a refocus on the value of the environment. Rather than being inexorably distinct in the minds of Americans, economic priorities should be intertwined with health and environmental concerns.

Of course, the real question is: How? Green priorities put in place by the federal stimulus bill are encouraging, but it’s only the first step. How do you think the economy could be restructured to reflect a cleaner environment and a greener American mindset?

Chart courtesy of the Pew Research Center