This chapter analyzes how industrial society has systematically ignored the negative aspects of large-scale industrial development. Imposed in the name of “progress,” this development has been carried out with disregard for its environmental and social effects and the risks it poses to workers and populations. Since the early nineteenth century, whistleblowers (activists, experts, and politicians) have denounced these abuses and described the consequences of innovation at any cost. However, the efforts made by the public authorities and the industrialists concerned were mostly limited to measures that did not call into question the principles of technical, economical and material progress, which were seen as a priority. This approach, which runs counter to traditional practices and humanist ideals of justice, is at the root of both social and environmental degradation that could jeopardize the very existence of humanity.