The first chapter of a leading environmental economics textbook is on global warming. Nothing about the big picture, or efficiency, or market imperfections, or normative v. positive questions, etc. Nope, just global warming. I suppose it is useful as a motivating tool for the textbook – such as how economics can help us think about problems like it. But is global warming the biggest environmental challenge? It might be, it might not be. Global warming is everywhere, all the time.
One of the more reasoned and less frenetic commentator on the intersection of environmental and economy is Bjorn Lomborg. If you are interested in this topic, you should check out his ideas…
http://www.lomborg.com/