[GOT Season 7 Finale Spoilers]
It might seem like a bit of a stretch, but after watching the penultimate season finale of the HBO mega-hit GAME OF THRONES, I couldn't help but draw a distinct parallel between the existential threat of the white walkers to the people of Westeros and the catastrophic peril of global warming facing all of us in our own real world.
Watching the undead wight dragon controlled by the Night King burn down the wall between the wild north and the land of men, I couldn't help but think of the unprecedented events unfolding in Houston this weekend or any of the dozens of climate events over the past several months that predict an even worse future for our world. It might not be as cinematic, but it is sure to be a lot more catastrophic, with million upon millions paying the price for the short-sighted ambition of the few mega corporations unwilling to admit that there is a very real human price on the environment that must be accounted for in any rational understanding of the real world.
We are all like Cersei Lannister, sitting on the Iron Throne in ultimate power and decadent affluence in the heart of Westeros, far from the cold reality of the north or the real world, where the wall is crumbling like the glaciers in our world, where the reefs are dying from human made climate change and no one is listening. The sounds of the undead, the cries of the dying, we're all in this together at some point.
We're all determined to hold onto power, fighting to hold onto our jobs, our security, our pensions and our retirement plans, our insurance premiums, our mortgage rates, and our interest rates. We're all conditioned to exist despite the worst possibilities, specialized to continue on despite the most trying of circumstances and the most toxic of environments.
Hell, I like to stick my head into the sand like Cersei Lannister, to refuse to believe what is apparent to the naked eye, what is felt by the common touch -- like the fact that it is getting warmer every year, without fail, since about the time mankind discovered the internal combustion engine and started flooding the atmosphere with burning hydrocarbons in ever-increasing cycles fueled by political, religious and and monetary objectives.
Before long, most of the coral on the planet is going to be in trouble. Don't trust me? This extensive coral bleaching event was just a few hours ago. These kinds of events are unprecedented -- meaning they are without previous occurrence, and yet we're like Cersei standing in the midst of this insanity thinking only of ourselves, willing to watch the world burn to the ground so long as our own are protected and kept in the lap of luxury for their entire lives.
So what can we do?
Head on over to Project Aware and Take Action :
Or start to make more sustainable local choices.