All of our greatness as a nation has been achieved as a result of standing on the moral high ground, and the sacrifices for the next generations of those who came before us are what have made it possible for us to have the blessings that we have today.
A second point is that there are plenty of ways to accomplish this without sacrificing any conservative principles, and in fact consevative principles, properly applied, are the best way to fight our environmental problems.
We haven't even begun to tap the Earth's riches. Humans create their own misery. Lack of planetary resources has nothing to do with it.