Will giant cruise ships destroy the wonders their passengers claim to love? | Rowan Moore

Guides who shot a polar bear have been denounced as murderers. But what does that make the tourists who are ruining its fragile habitat?A special kind of shock comes with the shooting of a polar bear. Their magnificence, their appearance of cuddliness, their ferocity, their vulnerability, their anthropomorphism - all combine to make the death of a single male, at the hands of guides for a tourist cruise ship, worldwide news.The internet hummed with denunciation. It is hard to think of another creature, even one more endangered, whose loss would cause so much reaction. Continue reading...