The Warming World: Is Capitalism Destroying Our Planet?

[Oscar]

The Warming World: Is Capitalism Destroying Our Planet? (SEE PHOTOS)

[ http://www.spiegel.de/international/wor ... 20406.html ]

By Alexander Jung, Horand Knaup, Samiha Shafy and Bernhard Zand

Humans are full of contradictions, including the urge to destroy things they love.

Like our planet.

Take Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Like everyone living Down Under, he's extremely proud of his country's wonder of the world, the Great Barrier Reef. At the same time, though, Abbott believes that burning coal is "good for humanity," even though it produces greenhouse gases that ultimately make our world's oceans warmer, stormier and more acidic.

In recent years, Australia has exported more coal than any other country in the world. And the reef, the largest living organism on the planet, is dying. Half of the corals that make up the reef are, in fact, already dead. [ . . . ]