If your "right" to a "better" life involves destroying the environment and the air that we all have to breathe, then why exactly should I respect your "right"?
Yeah, this is a tricky scenario. It would not be cool if we were neighbors and I dumped nasty shit in the water nearby.
On the other hand, developing nations have been dumping nasty shit in the air for years as a tradeoff for an improved standard of living. If I was someone living in poverty in a developing nation, I'd hope you would respect my right to burn some coal to improve my standard of living.
