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Contact this writerPoverty around the world contributes to pollution in ways that most don't realize. Industrialized countries with well organized citizenry tend to rein in corporate polluters much more than poorer countries where regulation is lax and penalties are nonexistent.
Corruption and lack of oversight are the main causes of pollution, where the effect on our planet's environment and the lives of its populace are secondary to profit. "Progress" is the word most often used to explain a lack of global conscience. Many people believe that America is the greatest polluter in the world, yet few take the effort to search for the proof of that contention.
The fact is that none of the top ten most polluted cities in the world are in America. According to CNN and The World Bank, sixteen of the twenty worst polluted cities in the world are in China. Many of the lists vary slightly in their rankings, but most agree that Linfen, China is the most polluted city on the planet. Russia, and countries that were previously part of the Soviet Union, also have a disproportionate number of cities in the top thirty five. India, Zambia, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, the Philippines, and Mexico also have the dubious honor of presence on the list of top polluters.
All of the countries whose cities are listed above have one thing in common; poverty. Poverty robs the population in these countries of the right to have a voice in what decisions are made that affect the health of their children. Expediency is the excuse for short range thinking in countries where the benefits of industrialization outweigh the welfare of those who labor in their coal mines and chemical plants.
Listed below is a ranking of the top ten polluted cities on the planet.
1. Linfen, China
2. Tianying, China
3. Sukinda, India
4. Vapi, India
5. La Oroya, Peru
6. Dzerzhinsk, Russia
7. Norilsk, Russia
8. Chernobyl, Ukraine
9. Sumgayit, Azerbaijan
10. Kabwe, Zambia
Two of the thirty five most polluted cities in the world are in the United States. Hanford, Connecticut, which was the site of a nuclear waste dump until 1987, has been the focus of ongoing toxic cleanup efforts that is estimated to cost American tax payers 1.4 million dollars a day. The other American city on the list is New Orleans, Louisiana where Hurricane Katrina caused massive environmental damage when levees broke, and rising waters inundated business and residence alike, creating a toxic soup that remained in the soil after those waters receded.
Once again, it becomes evident that environmental impact must be part of the planning for infrastructure and energy production. When the overwhelming poverty of a nation allows its government it to disregard basic safety and the poisoning of its people for the sake of progress, we all lose.
The gentrified world empathizes with victims of famine and natural disaster. The temporary aid that is provided soothes the conscience and puts to rest the nagging feeling that more could be done. Equally important though is an end to the apathy that tacitly permits the rape of our environment, and the abandonment of those in poverty who are helplessly suffering due to governmental and corporate mismanagement.
References:
Full List 2006 Blacksmith Institute
http://www.blacksm ithinstitute.org/top 10/worst35d.html
Time/CNN
http://www.time.co m/time/specials/2007 /0,28757,1661031,00. html
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by David Elder
Poverty around the world contributes to pollution in ways that most don't realize. Industrialized countries with well...read more
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by John Stall
Filipinos are not by nature dirty people, in fact far from it. They are conscientious about their personal cleanlines...read more
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I have lived in the Philippines for almost my entire life and the culture known for Filipinos of being naturally hygienic is deeply instilled in me. It takes me to take a bath twice during summer time and have all the personal hygiene tools from powered toothbrush, facial scrubs, different types of soaps, deodorant to fragrances. Name it, I have it. I am not rich but I know how to live like one. I am not poor but I know better how life goes in a poor environment.
The problem with pollution in my country is not merely due to poverty. A lot of people who visit the Philippines are mistaken with the notion that poverty is the worst polluter because what they observe is just the situation that their naked eyes can see - poverty. True enough that poor people, especially those who live in the metro experience difficulty in the access to garbage disposal programs implemented by the government. These people therefore, being sandwiched in a situation of having a stinking garbage and the fact that they are deprived on these government programs on waste disposal, would be forced to utilize rivers, canals and vacant lots as their own trash cans.
Imagine the crowded houses and the very narrow ways into the shanties that cannot even be trespassed by small cars. Because of poor program implementation, they are being deprived of the opportunity for the so-called "waste management programs" of the government wherein garbage trucks routinely visit the barangays (could be compared to districts or towns). This sad truth ruins the image of Filipinos of being obsessively conscious with their personal hygiene because the environment they are living in contradicts their physical appearance.
Why blame the lowly Filipinos who comprise a big population in urban areas? The truth is we are blaming the problem of pollution to another problem which is poverty. Can't we see that there could be a higher culprit that leads to these two problems?
Corruption. The Philippines is known to be one of the most corrupt nations in the world. This evil deed had grown roots eversince the Spanish colonization and was inherited by politicians during the American and Japanese invasion and is taken over until today. Why not blame the government officials whose houses are enjoying the luxury of being on the top list when it comes to having access to these garbage disposal programs. Why not blame these officials who promise to empathize with the poor during elections but tend to be blinded by the powers of the rich and tends to favor them in the end.
Aside from this, the government focuses more on strengthening the military forces rather than the welfare of Filipinos. Why? The government is afraid of losing its support from the military due to countless destabilization plots that had almost succeeded. A large chunk of the national budget is enjoyed by a small portion of the population in the military service. If only the government sees the "real" situation of the greater population, then these officials could have focused more on poverty alleviation. In that way, they would not blame the poor population on the problem of pollution because these people are just victims of their greed anyway.
I came from the province and the problem in pollution is not of bigger concern compared to that in Manila. The only reason I noticed is that there is much fairer access to the garbage disposal programs being implemented by the local government officials in my province that even the poorest of the poor could have access. In Manila however, the local government officials, who should have better capacity of implementing such programs, lack proper technical planning as well as proper education to the suffering poor populations. I agree with the waste management programs of the government. But the problem is that it should be properly implemented and properly funded with the aim of making it accessible to each and every Filipino household especially in highly populated areas.
The entirety of this article may only be focused on the Philippine setting, but the situation in my country speaks well of the sufferings regarding pollution in other third world countries. I stand firm that poverty is not the main culprit when it comes to pollution but it is the improper implementation of the government programs regarding waste management as well as the undying issue of corruption that had brainwashed the minds of the poor with the idea "being poor means being dirty."
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