Stealing land from the sea was a commercial project to increase arable land and for protection against North Sea storm flooding. The difference was that the benefits of the project didn't become finalized until long after its initiators were long dead. Modern business mentality is incapable of that sort of long-term civic minded thinking. Business works best when it sees a human need, and then sets out to fill it. Modern business has evolved beyond that, it creates a need that doesn't exist simply because it has determined it can be filled very profitably.

We may never be able to reverse the desertification of N Africa (at least not deliberately, although we may certainly do so accidentally!). OTOH, we may have contributed to it by means of deforestation and over-grazing. We're well on way to turning the Amazon into a near-sterile zone, without any government help whatsoever, just to satisfy our addiction to cheap beef. We can't blame earlier generations for destroying the environment through ignorance, but we no longer can use that excuse.

The draining of the Everglades alluded to by TB below was done for purely business reasons, to artificially develop real estate and agriculture in an area where land was cheap but both real estate and agriculture were impractical. The fact that nobody lived there was irrelevant, it was not the fulfillment of a need, it was a purely commercial transaction, the creation of a need. We're still paying the price for that boondoggle.

Politicians may have not given us space, but they've done much more than the the business sector. So far, business has shown very little progress, as we've discussed here countless times before. This is not a criticism of business, no private venture can be expected to sink funds into an enterprise that won't be profitable for centuries, if ever. I know I would never invest MY money in one. Super-expensive long-term enterprises like this, high risk but potentially high profit, are the main reason we have government. I've had this drilled into me ever since high school Civics: the main reason we need government is to provide us with those things business can't or won't provide us. Taking really big risks is one of those things.

Business will not put us into space until it sees a potential profit in it. Again, this is not a criticism; entrepreneurs may be willing to take big risks with their money, but investors have to see a favorable prospectus before they stick their neck out. And space is a very big investment with no return for the forseeable future. And maybe never.

Until then, governments will conceive and plan the missions and provide the contracts, business will give us the expertise and innovation and accumulate the experience. So let it be written, so let it be done. Its in the Bible. Look it up. 8)