by Sebastian Talon

Created on: April 01, 2010   Last Updated: April 02, 2010

Is it fair to ask underdeveloped countries to "go green" when many advanced industrial countries owe their success to destructive environmental practices?

There is one major problem with this whole idea. As someone who has traveled the world, actually stepped foot in what "Developed" countries call "Underdeveloped" or "Third World" countries, I resent these labels. The only differences between the two types of places are matters of money and stability.

The people are no different from those in the so called developed countries. They only want to live their lives, be able to provide food and shelter for their families, and hopefully give their children more opportunities than they themselves had. In this, people are the same all over the world.

However, this is a personal pet peeve, and only somewhat related to the topic at hand. I have no doubt that if these places had the money, resources and political stability they deserve, our situations would not look quite so different.

Here is the real point I would like to make, and the reason that I voted no in this debate. How is it that those countries we consider "Developed" think they have a right to dictate to others how they should act to achieve the prosperity that their citizens, and our fellow men, deserve?

How is it that we have the gumption to exclaim, "We won the technology race, therefore you all must do it this way, or not at all?" What right do we have to make a poor country spend up to thousands of times more capital than we did just to get to the same point we are at?

What right do we have to MAKE them buy those "Green" enhancements from countries that have developed them? All of which, by the way, that would fall into the category of "Developed" countries?

It is self serving to require them to "Go Green" when all it does is fill the coffers of those countries that are already rich. What gives us the idea that we have the right to force anything on anyone in this world?

Just because we perceive that we have "Won the Game?" We're the best, and therefore you all must do it our way? That's just dictatorship over the global market, not true cooperation on the world stage. And, truthfully, the whole thing sickens me.

The "Developed" countries would be better off trying to make the world a better place, not just enriching their own pocketbooks by forcing others, sovereign countries, to follow requirements that we ourselves only give lip service to. Oh, I know we're trying, but to many who study in this field, it's too little, too late, already.

And all we really doing by denying developing countries the ability to industrialize at their own pace, and in their own way, is making sure that we will stay on top. We insure that none of those countries can threaten our places as the winner of the Technology and Industrialization race.

Is mine a cynical outlook on the situation? Possibly. However, as long we, the self proclaimed winners of a race no one was really aware they were running, continue to repress those who have been held back by lack of resources, capital and political security, I see no other way to view the situation.

The one thing that few even talk about today is that the All Mighty Dollar (Or Euro, or plug in any currency you want), has become the only matter of importance to those who already have prosperity, and those with it, find ways to keep it and make more of it. And often times, they do so to the detriment of others, and therefore, to the detriment of us all.

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