AIDG Blog [Appropriate Technology, Development, Environment]

When Rob Katz wrote about us at WorldChanging last November one of the commenters expressed this concern about our projects:

“It seems to me that this is imposing the ideals of the already developed world, who have the luxury to be able to think of sustainability, on the developing world.”

His worry has stuck in my head for a long time because it reflects how a surprising number of people view the intersection between environmentalism and poverty. They see the former as the domain of yuppie elites (or whacko nutjobs depending on who you talk to).

This is a big myth, one of the more distressing fallacies of the day and it’s very very pervasive. Environmentalism is for everyone. If you like the smell of a cool clean breath of air, you, my friend, are an environmentalist. If you like the unhampered taste of a cold drink of water unsullied by toxins or cancer-causing pollutants, yup, you’re a big fat green hippie. That goes double if you smile at the first spring flower, get skeeved out by that thick waxy layer on your apples, or heck, if you enjoy the fruits of nature in any way. Your inability to afford the foods at “Whole Paycheck” or an oh-so pretty Prius, does not affect the fact that clean air, clean drinking water, and a minimally damaged environment are imperative to your survival.

The biggest thing that people need to understand is that the poor are often more adversely affected by environmental issues because they have a lower ability to mitigate the effects of damage/pollution in their surroundings. If you walk around Quetzaltenango at dusk and get a whiff the sickening slightly sweet smell of burning plastic, you know this already. Few people can afford trash pickup so they burn their garbage daily and can get exposed to quite a few nasty carcinogens in the process. If you visited Casa Guatemala and saw the kids joyfully swimming far but not far enough from where pig manure would leach into the Rio Dulce, you’re well aware. If you saw the pictures of Panabaj buried underneath meters of mud, you know that the poor bear the greatest burden when the environment is ravaged. In the case of Panabaj, massive deforestation was thought to have contributed to the landslides that entombed the village after Hurricane Stan. There are thousands of examples like this all over the world.

The fact that the affluent classes are more concerned is more a reflection of increased knowledge and power to take action given that knowledge. Unfortunately, there are not enough affordable options in the marketplace for the less affluent segment of the population to actively participate in the environmentalist/green consumer movement. We, at AIDG, are trying to do our part to help change that.

Here are some interesting pieces on the subject:

Poverty & the Environment A great 7-part series.

Local difficulties
Greenery is for the poor too, particularly on their own doorstep

Every year in developing countries, a million people die from urban air pollution and twice that number from exposure to stove smoke inside their homes. Another 3m unfortunates die prematurely every year from water-related diseases. All told, premature deaths and illnesses arising from environmental factors account for about a fifth of all diseases in poor countries, bigger than any other preventable factor, including malnutrition. The problem is so serious that Ian Johnson, the World Bank’s vice-president for the environment, tells his colleagues, with a touch of irony, that he is really the bank’s vice-president for health: “I say tackling the underlying environmental causes of health problems will do a lot more good than just more hospitals and drugs.”

Dirt poor
Poor countries have the world’s worst environmental problems. They cannot afford to put up with them, argues Daniel Litvin

See “Ask a brokeass” from the Gristmill if you want to be greener but ain’t got the cash.

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