Cause and Effect

SPOILER WARNING: There are screenshots from Cataclysm in this post – if you want to avoid anything visual relating to Cataclysm don't look at the images (the written stuff is fine – I just made use of a screenshot from the beta)

A crowd was gathering on the shores of the lake in Darnassus. Standing in a boat slightly out from the shore was green haired elf talking expansively.

"Changes of cataclysmic proportions are coming. This is an evil of our own creation. We must repent. We must change our ways."

I knew the rhetoric, but the context was strange. This was clearly a druid, not a priest.

His doomsday message continued taking a different path to what I expected. "What can be done, you ask? I tell you now everyone can do their share. The sum of many parts is revolutionary change. Small, practical steps will renew the earth, bring healing. When you go home tonight and cook your dinner, put out the fire once you have finished. Get under a blanket instead of huddling in front of the fire." He paused taking a big breath. "Those fires are killing this world slowly. They release evil vapours into the air that encourage the sun to burn brighter, to unleash potent energy to warm the world."

The druid spins his rhetoric

"What about the forges. Look at the centre of Ironforge it is one huge fire?" someone called out from the crowd.

"You are right. Industry has a big role to play. But they must be led, it is a rare gem in this day and age that a company will put others or indeed this world before profits." he gestured to the crowd. "But if the people lead, they will follow."

"Where is your proof! You can't fool us! You've spent to much time in tree form!" This brought a laugh from the crowd as the heckling started. Heckling invariantly occurred when a druid tried to speak publicly, even here in Darnassus. But the speaker was not phased.

"Have you been to Desolace recently? It used to be a verdant land, lush with vegetation and home to an abundance of wildlife. Now? It is a barren land." He shook his head and pointed south. "The desert in Tanaris is expanding."

As the world warms the seas will rise. Those low lying areas will be flooded with the salty water of the oceans.

"Warmer temperatures will result in flooding?" someone scoffed.

"But of course. Can you imagine what the increased power of the sun is going to do to the snow and ice in Northrend? Where will it go? The effects will be widespread."

A vision of the devastating changes.

He spread his hands before him "Even here you can feel the effects. The ground has been trembling. It is getting warmer - can you remember the last time it really rained." He held up his hands and shrugged a little. "It is hard to quantify. Each change is insignificant individually, but as a whole they speak of drastic changes to come. As a druid I am highly attuned to these subtle changes. The animals are nervous. The trees have become quiet."

He dropped his arms and slumped. "Think about it. Is not a few small changes now worth the preservation of the world as we know it?"

With that closing statement he leapt into the water shapeshifting into a seal and swam away.

Reflecting on what had been said, I could see his point. Even if his prediction proved false the changes he outlined didn't seem that drastic and would save precious gold any way. I decided I would make a change and see how well I can keep it up.

"Crazy druids" I heard someone mutter as they walked away. This made me wonder - would this message have been more effective if it wasn't a druid delivering it. They were known for their nature preserving ways, holding the value of bark higher than skin. Imagine if this was Wrynn pronouncing the doom and gloom. Would anyone be more willing to listen, or would his inaction diminish the "greatest moral dilemma of our generation"?