Environmental Consequences

Progress had costs increasingly visible by 1900. The Seine, receiving industrial waste and sewage, stank in summer. Fish disappeared. Swimming, once common, became hazardous. The river that had defined Paris became an embarrassment requiring expensive engineering to manage.

Air pollution from factories, automobiles, and coal heating created the famous "fog" that photographers romantically captured but lungs struggled to breathe. Tuberculosis correlated with air quality maps. Wealthy districts had parks and tree-lined boulevards; working-class quarters choked on smoke. Environmental injustice had geographical coordinates.

Noise pollution tormented residents. The clatter of iron wheels on stone, factory whistles, automobile horns, construction equipment—silence became luxury. Doctors reported increasing deafness. Writers complained of inability to concentrate. The "quiet hours" ordinances passed in 1902 proved unenforceable. Progress was loud.

Urban wildlife vanished. Songbirds disappeared from gardens. The last wolf was shot in the Bois de Boulogne in 1891. Even sparrows declined, unable to find horse droppings for food as automobiles replaced carriages. Pets replaced wild animals—pedigreed dogs for the wealthy, pigeons for the working class. Nature became something to visit in parks rather than encounter daily.