Ending the death tax would allow those who inherit land to keep the family farm intact. Unfunded federal mandates also contribute to sprawl. When the federal government specifies the treatments to be used when cleaning local hazardous waste sites rather than simply requiring that a certain standard of cleanup be achieved and leaving it to the cities to find the least costly method of reaching the goal, then critical funds are wasted. When this happens families escape to suburban developments. Second, government programs must recognize that a healthy environment depends on a healthy economy.
Poor countries have the worst environmental problems.
For example, poverty-stricken Haiti has the highest infant mortality rates in the Americas because less than 30 percent of its rural citizens have access to safe drinking water. In China, untreated waste from China's state-run factories make more than a quarter of its lakes and rivers unsuitable even for irrigation. And the World Health Organization ranks China's air as the world's worst. The wealth created in market economies makes environmentally sensitive technological innovations possible, and citizens in wealthier societies spend more on environmental quality. Finally, since most environmental problems are purely local they call for local solutions.