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Disagree

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When I first saw this question, I thought it would be quite straightforward to answer, but the more I looked into it, the complex it seems. So I'll tackle it from two different angles: (1) poverty in terms of poor countries polluting the world; and (2) individuals or communities in poverty which have a negative effect on the surrounding areas and quality of life.

(1) POOR COUNTRIES

In comparison with rich countries, the poorer nations can't afford to renew their industry and infrastructure just because it pollutes the environment. Their aim is to make a prosperous country for their inhabitants and the sad fact is that, too often, it means that something else has to suffer.

There's also the factor that multinational companies are moving production to poorer countries to lower costs and increase profit and unfortunately many of these places aren't equipped with state-of-the-art facilities. This is often a cause of increasing air pollution.

Many poorer countries also rely on a much larger proportion of agriculture to support their people and their economy. With more animals and poor sanitation, this leads to an increased risk of contaminated land and groundwater, which these governments can't afford to put right.

On the other hand, it's the richer countries who have invested in much of the machinery which contaminates and pollutes. And it's the richer countries who have the combination of money and expertise to redress the balance. But they don't do enough.

In this way, the USA is a huge polluter and Australia has also been identified as one of the world's major culprits. But developing countries like India and China are also guilty of pollution in their attempt to become more prosperous.

(2) INDIVIDUAL POVERTY

When individuals or communities are poor, the effects are different. Poor areas are usually characterised by crime and unemployment and few people will want to live in an area blighted by poverty because it often helps to breed more poverty and a lower quality of life.

Poor areas aren't usually characterised by large amounts of pollution, except possibly noise pollution and some air pollution, because they are deprived areas.

In this sense and in these areas poverty itself is the worst polluter because it's the lack of wealth itself which has the cumulative effect of a deteriorating neighbourhood.

In conclusion, I think we can't say that poverty is the worst polluter unless we understand what we mean by poverty'. Individual poverty can pollute an area, but it's probably the wealth and greed of nations which creates the pollution we have across the globe today. And it's their reluctance to address the problems of international debt and international aid which helps sustain the individual poverty.

Learn more about this author, Ben Hughes.
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