When air pollution is likely to lead to serious public health risks, social grievances, loss of activity and attractiveness, we are concerned about the environment. This is what I call environmental policy by interest.

It is always believed that one must lose interest in oneself in order to take an interest in the environment, that concern for the environment would be sacrificial, that of growth, one's well-being, one's habits, etc. This is sometimes true (and necessary), but it is not the only lever, nor the most powerful one. This is sometimes true (and necessary), but it is not the only lever, nor the most powerful. It is also out of personal, economic, social and political interest that we should care about the environment. We should be interested in ourselves, here, today, and not necessarily in them, elsewhere, in the future.

We are not strangers to protecting the planet, as if there is a planet and us. Preserving the planet is also preserving humanity, and preserving humanity will increasingly require protecting the planet, it is our destiny.

Human nature being constant, the same interests that harmed the planet yesterday will benefit it tomorrow. Having more to gain than to lose by protecting the planet is the trick.