Indeed, for some reason they don't care that their entire kingdom and infrastructure is about to fail; sure they won't be reduced to third world status, but a reduction is still a reduction and it will make life harder for the poeple... Really, instead of bringing up the Elves they should have instead brought up the ancient race that destroyed itself trying to capture the comet. Not willing to risk the destruction of the entire kingdom just to maintain their status would be a more valid reason to do nothing