Social / Problems / Poverty

Sustainability cannot be thought of in a vacuum, but rather a myriad of global problems that are interrelated. One such problem is the issue of poverty.

Rich nations outsource their pollutive industries to poorer third world nations due to cheaper manufacturing costs and laxer pollution controls. There is a financial disincentive for them not to innovate and employ green technology due to the prohibitive costs of green technology. Pollution then flows from the 1st world to the 3rd world, leading to a concentration of pollution there. Moreover, the products of the factories go back to the 1st world, where there is a market for these goods, not the 3rd world!