Is it possible to balance the industrial requirements of developing countries and environmental protection?

The beautiful thing about this platform is that it allows us to ask the world, and with questions as potentially polarising as this one the larger the perspective we can get the more we can invest in those perspectives.

I'm from the UK, 1st World, privileged and sheltered from much of the evils of the world. These are just facts, and I understand that. The reason I mention this is because I think it makes answering the aforementioned question quite hard.

I think its fair to say, that objectively - the emergence of a Chinese & Indian middle class would have an impact on the environment and probably a negative one at that. If not for anything else, then for the increased need for resources and the proclivity to produce waste. My perspective has always been that encouragement of human ingenuity and innovation is paramount in tackling climate issues, but this view is often not shared. I won't ramble here but I encourage everyone who is interested to comment below, let us know what your thinking. Lets start a discussion!