Unlike the paragons of ecological modernization, techno-solutionism or partisan political ecology, the ethos of those involved in grassroots environmentalism is often characterized by a relative modesty in the way they describe their relationship with ordinary nature. This attitude is the antithesis of the spectacle of the saviour-of-the-planet syndrome (from television producers turned ministers to digital multi-billionaires who constantly set themselves up as enlightened heroes of the ecological cause). What's more, the stranglehold of constraints on the environmental possibilities of post-war fishermen in Sète has not been loosened for the working classes of the 21st century. Nonetheless, certain sections of the working classes continue to have a unique relationship with the environment, driven primarily by the definition of "essential needs" against the industrialization of superfluous production, as well as by the organization of conditions for a dignified subsistence.

Etang-de-Berre has been one of France's main oil refining sites since the interwar period. Oil expansion led to conflicts with fishermen in the 1950s and with trade unionists in the 1970s. The ambivalence of the relationship with this territory needs to be understood by reconstructing the history of conflictual relations between the oil industry and organized civil society, particularly since 1957, when a national law prohibited fishing and guaranteed priority oil use of this pond. This article sheds light on how the oil industry relies on the state to protect and green its image, pointing out that environmental regulation has given companies the option of letting public administrations handle pollution communication.

By cross-referencing various sources (trade union and ministerial archives, and interviews with former employees of the Tripode administrative building in Nantes), this article contributes to a social history of civil servants, which has yet to be fully explored from the angle of health hazards. The issues involved in setting up health and safety committees (CHS) in the civil service are discussed in the specific context of projects to "modernize" public administrations during the Mitterrand years, while also shedding light on the placing on the agenda of the asbestos risk to which civil servants are exposed.