IELTS Writing Samples - Economic Progress and Environment IELTS Writing Sample Answer Economic progress, especially in developing countries is often linked to industrialization and manufacturing output which typically involves heavy energy consumption, something which few countries can meet through solely renewable green energy sources. Therefore, economic development and being environmentally friendly are often seen as conflicting factors in the development cycle of a nation. The major causes of pollution, especially air contamination, are heavy industry, manufacturing, and traffic emissions. All these are closely linked to the gross domestic product (GDP) of a nation, and in the case of many developed nations as GDP has risen so too have levels of pollution. It is only in relatively recent times that pollution levels have decreased somewhat as the economies of such nations have moved away from heavy industry and manufacturing to high technology industries and service industr