Final point – mining
Finally, the gorilla in the basketball court, mining. I just have two points:

First, even if we operate on the premise that all mining is bad, our need for mining products will not stop. We will import the metals and minerals we refuse to mine ourselves. We would then be paying the Indonesians, Malaysians, Australians – everybody else – for their riches. We'd be paying not only their profit, but also the cost of protecting their environment. This makes no sense at all – paying somebody else to do the job we ourselves can, and should, do.

Second, providence has endowed us with an abundance of natural resources. We can choose to develop them to benefit our people, or let them just lie fallow.
Read more: 'Charting progress to 2020'