Utilizing available land resources

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Optimization means: to make the 'best' possible use of such resources as are available within a given constraint-set. This notion supports neo-classical economics in particular, and public-policy processes generally. From an environmental viewpoint, however, the critical result of this goal of optimization is that we tend to view unused resources as a waste, and, to make up for this, expand use to the limit. Even our notions of carrying capacity are expressed as "maximum sustainable yield". Little is exempt from optimization when it is driven by the current economic framework: if something, such as 'natural beauty', has no monetary value, it becomes difficult to protect from the impacts of commercial consumption and the ravages of human greed.