Progress. At what price?

Best in LARGE! (Still not figured out that link!!)
This is a fraction of the sight that welcomed us into Amsterdam (Ijmuiden) this morning on the ferry. An industrial area like no other I have witnessed (clearly I haven´t been in many places of industry). Smoke erupting out of chimneys as far as the eye cold see. I took loads of shots and I liked a couple of them, but I thought this was the strongest of them. Not quite the land of tulips and clogs!!!
It did, however, bring to mind, the question of environmentalism and the way we choose to treat our beloved planet. How sustainable is it to spew all this pollution into the atmosphere? What is the real cost of all our technological and industrial progress?