Friend of the Gutter Eve Wilson writes about Final Fantasy VII, sarcasm and the end of the world. “It’s cool to be publicly sarcastic about the end of the world, even if the speaker is privately concerned. Maybe that’s a defense mechanism. Maybe it’s a response to self-righteous screeds about Earth’s peril that place blame on individuals rather than institutions, then end with admittedly lame exhortations to reduce-reuse-recycle, or to solutions that rely upon everyone having a little more money (Saving the environment? In this economy?), or to the fine print on greenwashed products in Costco that make you wonder if anything will actually change before Florida becomes part of the Gulf of Mexico. Climate change feels like a catastrophe that is paradoxically both tangible and distant. It’s like a giant meteor hanging over the planet: it’s terrible, yeah, but while it’s still in the air, we have stuff to do. We’ll get back to thinking about that problem once we’ve paid off our student loans.

Because I’m not cool, I’m talking about the climate apocalypse, and to do so I’m pivoting to something I care about way too much: a video game about environmental damage and a Meteor at the end of the world.”

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