2.3.3 Differences between people and places

Figure 11 is a group of six photographs arranged in three pairs to show the contrast between the homes of rich and poor people in India, Africa and China. The first pair (a and b) of India, show densely packed high-rise apartments with almost no surrounding vegetation compared with a simple hut surrounded by partially cleared vegetation with a single cow tethered outside. The second pair (c and d) of Africa, show a modern, two-storey white house with a large veranda, decorative shrubs and a large swimming pool compared with a simple, roughly thatched hut with two bare-foot children sitting outside and a woman at work preparing food using leaf-lined pots, the forest vegetation can be seen nearby in the background. The third pair (e and f) of China show high-rise apartments in rows giving the impression of a large development, with a tarmac road at the front, although most of the earth around the buildings is bare compared with a narrow alley between two rows of simple housing with a few mopeds and bicycles parked outside. The photos suggest, although not all explicitly illustrate, how increasing personal wealth generally involves greater use of resources and higher greenhouse gas emissions. For example, while a middle class Indian or an urban Chinese family might live in a new high rise apartment block with electricity, piped water, refrigerator, TV, etc. and a member of the African elite might have a large house with a swimming pool, a poor Indian or African villager might still live in a thatched hut without electricity or mains water and a rural Chinese family might live in a narrow street of small concrete dwellings. Similar contrasts can of course be shown between the homes of rich and poorer people in developed countries.