poverty perspective on the environment

I came across an interesting Malawian response on all the hype about global warming and CO2 emissions. I thought I'd share it here because it shows some global perspective from the poor.

From Malawi's "The Daily Times" Kofi Bentil [06 June 2008]:

People who have a stake in the success of a thing are less likely to destroy it, so property-owning people are less likely to destroy by pollution the life they enjoy. But to the poor, life is a struggle: they care little for anything but daily sustenance, much less the environment.

To get out of poverty you need economic development. To get economic development you need a stable economy with property rights, the rule of law and economic freedom: so why don’t we focus on how we can lift everybody out of the mud of poverty? Poverty is neither quaint nor environmentally friendly, whatever eco-tourists might think.

This is the dilemna we will probably face in promoting sustainability. The people of Malawi are living in survival mode. How do we lift the poor out of poverty toward sustainability? I believe extending the Kingdom of God has something to do with it...