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In this climate change video essay, I take a quick look at how a scene in Season 7 of Game of Thrones parallels the way in which we mentally approach climate change. Using a conversation between Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister about the white walkers I dig into the psychology of inaction when facing climate change.
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Transcript Provided by YouTube:
00:02
like all good works of fiction Game of
00:05
Thrones has crafted a narrative that is
00:07
at times eerily similar to our current
00:09
political climate this is particularly
00:11
true in the case of climate change
00:13
surprisingly Game of Thrones does a
00:16
great job paralleling the complexities
00:18
of climate change throughout the show
00:20
but in this video I’m going to focus on
00:22
the following scene in the 7th season
00:25
that nails exactly why there hasn’t been
00:27
an overwhelming response to climate
00:29
action in the last few decades how do I
00:32
convince people who don’t know me but an
00:34
enemy they don’t believe in he’s coming
00:36
to kill them all good question I know
00:39
it’s a good question I’m looking for an
00:41
answer people’s minds aren’t made for
00:44
problems that large white walkers the
00:47
night king army of the Dead it’s almost
00:51
a relief to confront a comfortable
00:53
familiar monster like my sister with
00:56
just a few lines of dialogue the scene
00:59
encapsulate one of the biggest
01:00
psychological barriers facing widespread
01:03
climate action Tyrion and Jon are
01:06
discussing the White Walkers which in
01:08
this scene can be read as stand-ins for
01:10
climate change we find it much easier to
01:12
ignore or push aside such a big issue
01:14
like climate change in our minds because
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it seems so broad and intangible so
01:20
instead we concentrate our efforts on
01:22
the Cersei Lannister of the world
01:24
problems that we can understand and for
01:26
which there are established solutions
01:28
but unfortunately the metaphor of the
01:30
White Walkers only go so far in
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illuminating our relative inaction in
01:35
the face of a rapidly changing climate
01:37
unlike Jon Snow we can’t go on a
01:39
life-or-death mission to prove that
01:41
climate change exists our battle with
01:44
the psychology of climate change is much
01:46
harder so why exactly is it so easy to
01:49
ignore the crisis that is climate change
01:51
simply put climate change is a
01:53
combination of everything our brain is
01:55
bad at understanding in a lecture at
01:57
TEDx psychologist Daniel Gilbert states
02:00
we respond to threats that are
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intentional immoral imminent and
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instantaneous he then goes on to say
02:07
that climate change is none of those
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things threats that lack
02:11
features do not global warming one of
02:14
the greatest threats to the future of
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our species doesn’t have any of these
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properties human beings have a cognitive
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bias towards instant gratification and
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loss aversion or in other words we tend
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to gravitate towards solving problems
02:29
that are short-term and easily
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understandable like a murder
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thus the long term destruction of a
02:35
climatic disaster makes it hard for us
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to collectively act
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it’s amorphous there’s no clear enemy
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and there’s no one clear solution as a
02:43
result we become apathetic which gives
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professor Gilbert reason to say a
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psychologist could barely dream up a
02:50
better scenario for paralysis how then
02:52
can we take collective action in light
02:54
of the fact that our brains are
02:56
hard-wired to it essentially ignore the
02:58
threat of climate change well for one
03:00
understanding the way in which we
03:02
psychologically approach climate change
03:04
is crucial for action but unfortunately
03:06
that’s just a first step in order to
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successfully rouse ourselves into
03:11
climate action maybe we do need to learn
03:13
from John snows strategy and Game of
03:15
Thrones by showing the world that
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climate change or in game of thrones’
03:19
case White Walkers are real tangible and
03:22
an imminent threat climate change is
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caused by a multitude of systemic
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problems which require solutions on many
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fronts this means finding your own
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villains to fight like fossil fuel
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companies as Bill McKibben suggests or a
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capitalist system as Naomi Klein writes
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in her book this changes everything
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or maybe we need to constantly address
03:45
important stories that demonstrate that
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climate change isn’t a problem for the
03:49
future
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it’s instead a problem for it today
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stories like constant sunshine floods in
03:54
Miami or damaging sea level rise in
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Bangladesh can help people understand
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the looming cloud of climate change is
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very real and is affecting millions of
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people already we share this news
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occasionally but it’s often pushed aside
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with claims that the science is still
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unsettled or we need more debate but
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this
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decade is going to be warmer than the
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last one and the following one will be
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still warmer I I agree this Harvard I
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think the science is far from settled
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Thank You mr. chairman it will take
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large transformations along many sectors
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in order to truly combat a changing
04:28
climate
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but finding our own White Walkers is
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essential to making climate change a
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tangible and immediate threat that our
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minds can react to and understand this
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video is made possible in part by the
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wonderful people who support me on
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you like what you just saw share it
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around and subscribe thanks so much for
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watching and I’ll see you next Friday
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video.