The same activity gives with one hand and takes with the other, and it is usually the same people on both sides of the bargain. The chapter’s example says it exactly: in Tamil Nadu, many people earn money by working in leather factories. This helps the local economy — but the waste from these factories can pollute rivers and soil.
| Who or what is affected | How |
|---|---|
| Local communities | Drinking water from wells and rivers becomes unsafe; skin and stomach illness rises; crops on polluted soil yield less; fishing and farming livelihoods shrink even as factory jobs grow, so a family may earn a wage and lose a field in the same decade |
| Biodiversity | Fish and other aquatic life die or stop spawning; soil organisms that keep land fertile are killed; birds and animals that feed on the river move away or are poisoned. Once a species disappears from a stretch of river it rarely returns on its own |
| Everyone, later | When old smartphones are not recycled properly, lead and mercury leak into the ground and water. This pollution is dangerous for people, animals and plants — and unlike a bad harvest it does not clear in a season |
The principle the chapter draws from this is that producers must use natural resources responsibly — so that we can meet our needs today without making it harder for future generations to meet theirs. They should reduce waste, avoid pollution, and protect the environment while making products, and adopt sustainable practices to replenish natural resources for future use. Two of its own pictures show how: recycling industrial wastewater before releasing it into water bodies (Fig. 7.24) and using recycled products as inputs (Fig. 7.25).