Climate change ‘big unknown,’ says Game of Thrones star

Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime Lannister in the hit series, has called climate change “the big unknown” and warned of its devastating consequences.

Coster-Waldau made the remarks at the end of a three-day visit to the Maldives, which is facing a rise in its sea levels and the bleaching of its coral reefs.

The actor, who was in the country as a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador, visited an atoll where several UNDP projects are located.

“Climate change is the big unknown because if we don’t get that under control it could put everything else in jeopardy. If the temperature rises more, the consequences can be absolutely devastating and then we won’t have the resources.”

“It’s been amazing,” he said of his Maldives experience. “It’s been very intense. I learnt about the challenges Maldives faces when it comes to climate change – beach erosion, the danger of flooding – and the projects that try to deal with that.”

Prior to his visit, he addressed a fan theory of White Walkers as a climate change metaphor, stating it was easy to draw parallels between the slowly advancing army of the dead that destroys everything in its path and the environmental phenomenon.

He said current lifestyles were unsustainable and that changes needed to be made.

“I think it’s interesting to see why we do the things we do and at a global scale we’ve been very successful but we’ve also been very stupid. The way we’ve been living on this planet is not sustainable. We’ve reached a point where we have to make some changes. I also see this as a huge opportunity to create a better world for the future.”