Wealth had a cost, it was argued, and the environment was one of them. Industry, once a symbol of working-class socialism, was now a sin against the planet. The essential point was that economic production and environmental health were incompatible, and for one to gain, the other had to lose. This is where concepts like “carbon footprint” emerged, which implies that each of us, by our very existence, puts a cost on the planet’s well-being.
