Reddit mentions of What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism

>Well, it's not the only reason. Hydrocarbons are long, simple molecules which are relatively easy to work with and extract energy from. Pretty marvelous stuff, really.

Correct. I was a bit rash in making that statement. Hydrocarbons are marvelous, and we will be using them in for the rest of our future. It's used to make many types paper that we use, clothes, plastics, detergents, energy for our cars and our airplanes, energy for industrial processes, to generate heat for our homes, and the list goes on and on.

But we only pollute our environment with them without limit because it is profitable. All environmental damage is only done because it is profitable. Whether it's in the best interest of human welfare is not taken into account.

If you're interested in science, I suggest you look into the planetary boundaries. It is a list of 9 different environmental boundaries that were produced by leading scientists all over the world (alongside leading US climate scientists from NASA, James Hansen). If you're into the environmental movement at all, I suggest taking a look at this book.