As a nation and as a world, we must start thinking about the long-term impacts of our actions, rather than the short-term economic and energy benefits. Sustainable growth today will be more profitable in the future. Rejecting Keystone XL this spring is the right choice both for the nation and for the planet.

When most businesses are struggling to grow and hire new workers, many people see it as nonsensical for the government to dote on green companies. As such, the potential advances of the Rio+20 conference are preemptively restrained by the focus on fiscal growth in many developed countries.