Growth, pollution, and a brighter future in Vietnam

My current trek through SE Asia marks my first real and enduring visit to the developing world. (I went on a couple of family trips to Mexico when I was growing up, but those experiences were fairly removed compared what I am doing now.) As an American, I think that I find a lot of issues with my home country, such as the state of our political system, many dynamics of our culture that I see as destructive or shortsighted, and our inability to act collectively as a global leader in addressing climate change. I think that to some degree, it is a common American trait—particularly in young people—to be overly critical of our own country. When I traveled through northern Europe in ’09-’10, these criticisms were reinforced. Scandinavian countries tend to be very critical of American politics and culture, and I often felt as though I was treated differently if I told people I was American. (This was particularly the case at the UN Climate Change meeting in Copenhagen, as many countries resented the U.S. for failing to lead on the global issue.)

Therefore, it has been a significant surprise to me that SE Asian countries, and particularly Vietnam, seem to love Americans. (I wrote a little about this in my last post.) I have been thinking about this a lot, particularly in the context of climate change adaptation and more broad environmental concerns like water pollution and litter. This experience has made me appreciate what we have in America in many ways. It has led to a more conflicted view of American wealth and our place in the global economy.

In my journal writing and emails home, one recurring word has been “perspective.” Poverty is on such a different scale here, with many toilets (or most in some places) just hovering over the river, and slums as a common sight. People throw their trash onto the street or into the river without a second thought, and both are littered with trash. Farmers flood rice patties, inundating area rivers with fertilizer and insecticide chemicals (not to mention human and livestock waste).

But why is it so different here, coming from America where littering has become largely taboo, and water quality is protected with heavy federal and local laws?

One reason is simple: On an income scale, the Vietnamese family I stayed with this past week has to be very well-off contextually in this country. The father is a high-ranking leader in the Vietnamese Army and the mother is a PhD researcher and University Professor, specializing in aquaculture, agronomy, and microbiology. Yet I would guess that every household in my own American family—my parent's, sister's and brother's—has a base income that blows this Vietnamese family's out of the water. I bet that they're not even comparable. Our houses are all on such a different scale to the nice houses here. This family is more educated and prominent in their contextual society than my own, yet we have access to much more wealth and opportunity just because of the country in which we live. It makes me feel so fortunate for what we have in MT, and what has been provided for me by my family and country.

Directly related to income is the ability to maintain a clean environment. The quality of our environment in Montana is immaculate compared with here. Cities along the Mekong River have really trashed it, mostly because poverty levels don't allow them to address collective environmental concerns as we are able to in the U.S. Their government can’t afford to regulate effectively, their industrial sector doesn’t have a large enough profit margin to focus on environmental outcomes, and the local villager is more concerned with how to feed their children and pay for their schooling than the destination of their garbage and sewage. In the U.S. our environmental laws and protections are largely a result of our general affluence as a society, as well as a century-long process of heightened awareness, reclamation, and improving science. Certainly, America’s progress has come with a laundry list of social and environmental costs, but without a doubt I am proud and thankful for most of what the generation before me has left to us.

So it makes sense that Vietnam’s central focus is on economic growth. (And this policy-based focus is proving to be fruitful, with annual growth rates averaging over 8% during the past decade.) Look at what wealth has allowed America to achieve as a country. Why wouldn’t the developing world want that, and who would I be to criticize a country like Vietnam in their pursuit of growth? Even though I see so many approaching limits, such as rising sea levels that are projected to inundate 40,000 sq. km of agricultural land in the low-lying Mekong Delta, I can’t fault Vietnam for their pursuit of wealth. And as a traveling American looking back towards the Western world, I am beginning to appreciate what we have as some of the most fortunate people in all of human history.

After all, if sea levels truly do rise as projected by the IPCC, parts of Florida will be inundated and people will be forced to move to higher elevations. By and large, Florida residents will posses the necessary wealth to relocate (maybe to Montana?)—and those without the resources will almost certainly be aided by the government. But in Vietnam, the same scenario would be catastrophic. A sea level rise of 100cm would expose and/or displace 17.1 million people, which is 23.1% of the population. Where will the poor Mekong River Delta rice farmer go when his only source of income is destroyed?

I think Vietnam needs to continue its growth, and I am beginning to understand why a country like this might envy America. It feels strange saying it, because in discussions about environmental limits and climate change in particular, promoting unrestrained growth is fairly taboo. But Vietnam will not have the proper means to adapt to catastrophic environmental changes without access to wealth.