The Good Indians

I have had some of the best teaching experiences of my life, when helping to take groups of Biologists and Geographers to India to do field work. Seeing what is happening to air pollution in the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/07/pollutionwatch-breathtaking-views-vanish-build-better-coronavirus) at least raises graphically illustrates what is lost by chasing economic growth, using the old UK Industrial Revolution model. The UK model essentially moved people from rural locations into cities to develop polluting industries. Human health and life expectancy were very minor considerations when the accumulation of wealth by industrialists was the driving force. The clearing skies in India (and other countries) could be used to provide arguments against blindly repeating the UK's Victorian experience. There is a possibility (I know it's remote) that developing nations could, even at this late stage, choose to do things differently. Not all industries pollute and impairing human health actually has considerable costs (in terms of lost expertise as well as money). Go on, try a different approach!