One example Sagoff uses to illustrate our ability to make more with less is that of the toy manufacturer Saga which produced a child's hand-held game called Saturn. Humans learn and improve on what each proceeding generation has done. The desire to earn a profit in a competitive market rewards entrepreneurs who figure out new methods to increase productivity. The result is that each year we learn how to use the resources we have more efficiently. Driven by the selfish desire to earn higher profits these entrepreneurs make all of us wealthier in the long term.
More efficient use means less pollution but it also means higher profits.
And he was right. The human mind is the most important resource available. People forget just how much we have learned. Not that long ago if you had oil on your land it was considered a terrible misfortune. That is until someone figured out how to refine it into a useful product.