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Disagree

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There is no doubt at all in my mind that it is the pursuit of wealth, not poverty, that is the worst polluter.

When major oil corporations run leaking pipes at surface level through African villages but use the highest level technologies to make them leak proof and then bury them out of sight in affluent countries then that is polluting of the highest order.

When Western companies export old, polluting technologies to developing countries then they are to blame, not the poor people who are forced to accept them.

When we in richer nations export our waste to be sorted and disposed of by people on minute incomes then we are to blame, not them for simply trying to earn enough to put food in the stomachs of their children.

If capitalists can make a buck by making something cheaper, even if it's bad for the planet, then they'll do so. Similarly they'll try every trick in the book to get me to buy their product. What does it matter to them if it uses more paper, power, plastic, or whatever, than is strictly necessary if it makes me part with my cash.

We can't blame the poor, we can only blame ourselves. I'm not a committed greenie, although I try to do my bit, but I do know that I'm part of a system that consumes and consumes and consumes regardless of the consequences. I use my car because I can. If I wasn't terrified of flying I'd almost certainly take advantage of cheap air fares. Everything I buy has several layers of packaging, partly for my convenience and largely to make the goods look attractive. I'm not proud of this but I don't know what I can seriously do about it other than change my own habits, and unless large numbers of affluent people do that the manufactures will continue to pollute as much as they want in pursuit of the holy dollar.

The notion that the poor are to blame for pollution is absurd, it's called blaming the victim' and is a convenient way of the major countries, like the US, from accepting their responsibilities to the planet, and to all of us living on it.

Learn more about this author, Charlie Garratt.
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