At first glance, Tirupur, aka “Knit City,” appears to be an exemplar of how globalization can improve the developing world...The garment industry here in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu earns billions of dollars annually, employs about a half-million people and exports clothes to Europe and the United States...But all that growth has had devastating consequences for the environment and people living in the area...Oupalayam...dam...was supposed to update agricultural irrigation practices in Tirupur...the water so saturated with chemicals, salts and heavy metals that local farmers were petitioning the Madras High Court—the highest court in Tamil Nadu—to not release the water into their fields. It was making farmland unusable and locals sick.