by Indur M. Goklany and Merritt W. Sprague

About the authors: Indur M. Goklany is manager of science and engineering in the Office of Policy Analysis at the U.S. Department of the Interior. Merritt W. Sprague was formerly the director of the Office of Program Analysis at the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Using as an example the historical increase in U.S. agricultural productivity, this viewpoint will show that—but for technological progress—all our forestlands and croplands, including those that would have been only
marginally productive, would have had to have been plowed to produce the quantities of food we produce today. The accompanying wholesale destruction
of forests and other natural habitats and the reduction of biodiversity would have resulted in environmental problems that would have dwarfed those we...