really, there is no debate because the two are glued together.
our economy is generated by, initially, humans, who extract natural resources. The environment both allows for a functioning economy to exist but at the same time is negatively effected by it (did i use the right 'effect'?).
If you choose to put the economy first then really you mean "put the economy first right now, in the short term", because in the long term that sort of policy is going to cause enormous environmental damage that will cause economic regression.
environmental policy is economic policy.
"we are running an uncontrolled experiment on the only home we have"