Game of Thrones ( GOT ) fans will know actor Nikolaj Coster - Waldau as one half of the Lannister Twin Falls . He ’s also a mood change advocate and a United Nations Development Program ( UNDOP ) Goodwill Ambassador .

Last weekend , he spoke at the2017 Social Good Summit – a plaza where world leaders and activists congregate to talk technology as a forcefulness for positivist social change .

A GOT fan theory that fix the White Walkers are an allegory for climate modification came up .

“ [ T]he collimate [ between GOT and the literal world ] are you have a domain where you ’re trying to get all of the powerful houses , all of the countries , to get together to fight this tremendous opposition and the most powerful house articulate ‘ Yes I ’m get going to do this ’ and then suddenly decides not to,”said Coster - Waldau .

“ But the truth is that reality is always much more extreme than fable . We could n’t make up what ’s happening now . ”

Coster - Waldau is not the first to make the connection . This popular theory comparing the fictional White Walkers to the ( unfortunately)very real climate changehas been doing the round for a while now . However , mood - deny chair , uprise number ofclimate refugee ,   and a summertime of extreme weather ( whichmay or may nothave something to do with human race - made climate modification ) make it more apt than ever .

As   Charli Carpenter , a professor at the University of Massachusetts , explain in a 2012 paper titledGame of Thrones as Theory :   " The shibboleth ' Winter is coming ' is meant literally as well as metaphorically : planetary force are move slowly but inexorably toward climatic catastrophe as the infighting among kings and queens distracts them from the bigger pic . "

Sound familiar ?

Depending on where you are from ( grotesque Westoros or 21st - century Earth ) , the White Walkers or climate change pose a huge , experiential threat to human beings – so the theory expire .   But the problem is either too hard to face or too nonfigurative to read . So , instead of find solutions , the nobles and politician disregard it in the aspect ofgrowing evidenceand focussing on ( relatively ) unimportant problems , such as Edwin Herbert Land conflict and the economy .   Meanwhile , it ’s the Wildlings ( or the world ’s hapless ) who endure .

in the end , we ’ll all be squeeze to ferment together , enjoin Carpenter .

" The answer will finally come from alliances with northern barbarian horde , fringe populations who are the first victim of environmental variety , and with these alliance will amount striking tradeoffs in political polish , as newcomers bring with them trenchant ideas about political relation , society , and religion,“she explains .

Fortunately , here on planet Earth , countriesandcitiesare doing more to slow down down and reverse the effects of climate change . allow ’s just hope this vogue continue .

“ Our species , we ’ve been so successful,“said Coster - Waldau . " We ’re almost 7 and a one-half billion . By 2030 we ’ll be 8 and a one-half billion the great unwashed . It ’s like , wow , we did really well . The irony is we ’re about to destroy all of this . We reckon we ’re unbeatable . If we go above 2.5 arcdegree , it ’s cash in one’s chips to end in tears . "