The simple answer to this question is an emphatic YES! Finances effect the environment both for the better and worse.  Unfortunately the bad side to this question is the profitability in oil production as a means for energy, which greatly destroys our Earth.  Perhaps if our country could find some sort of debt relief and then use the extra money to help fund programs to find a more renewable and sustainable energy source then things may start to look better.  Will this ever happen? More than likely not.  Once we can find a way to get out of debt as a country than we can start looking at the bigger picture.