Early 19th Century British “Environmentalism”

Lengthy but well worth a read, especially the section on David Ricardo: "The interest of the landlord is always opposed to that of the consumer and the manufacturer." (1821).

From the introduction: Environmentalism is the social movement of the "landed interest" – an interest parallel to that of neither business nor labour. "Environmentalism" is readily identifiable in early 19th century Britain. This essay draws from the best-known writings of the era’s three most influential intellectuals for a portrait of an anti-democratic, anti-liberal social movement based in the aristocracy but claiming to represent the masses; a movement permeated with the ideas of over-population theorist T. Malthus; a movement benefitting from restricting land supply and suffering from advancing agricultural technology; that fought a cultural civil war using literary Romanticism and monkish asceticism; that was militantly protectionist regarding agriculture; that constrained industrial progress and spread fear of catastrophe.

Via Peter Risdon: