When did industrialisation start to generate environmental fears? Based on the case of Northern France and Belgium during the first industrialisation, we will see that these fears took many forms: at end of the 18th century, the fear that industry would cause local degradation is already present; it remains so during the first half of the 19th century. However, it seems that it was from the 1840’s and 1850’s, as industrialisation developed considerably, that the dread of a global collapse emerged.