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Poverty is not the worst polluter. If we look at pollution statistics and do a comparison of first world and third world nations, we see that more advanced nations are responsible for a great deal more pollution. Many will remark that third world nations are more involved in extraction industries and use less efficient power generation methods. While these things are true; i.e. coal and wood-burning factories, strip mining, etc., the industrialized nations are by far the worst polluters.

In the First World, or industrialized Western nations, industry includes steel and industrial fabrication, machine and vehicle assembly plants, power plants of all types including coal and nuclear, chemical and pharmaceutical factories, medical facilities and military installations. Of course there are many more sources of environmental pollutants, but considering the industrial output of France vs. Gambia, we can be certain that France produces many more tons of environmental toxins than Gambia. One nation is modern and industrial and reliant on nuclear power, while one nation is primarily agricultural.

Critics of this perspective will argue that inefficient farming methods, mining operations and similar concerns in the lesser-developed nations will turn into more serious problems as these nations industrialize. This is true, but it is also true in the most advanced industrial nations. In the high tech industry, many people are happy to work in what they feel is a "clean" or environmentally conscious industry. Of course high tech facilities do not have large smokestacks that belch out black smoke, but high tech manufacturers can be heavy water polluters. The batteries and electronic components needed in high tech rely on the strip-mining of nickel and other metals which cause great damage to the environment.

In short, poverty is not the worst polluter, simple human progress is. In reality, the more wealth a society has, the more options are available to remedy pollution and other problems.

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