[Photo from the screening (Wera Hobhouse MP standing front centre) – credit Wera Hobhouse MP]
Late last year, ten of the UK’s leading experts briefed an invited audience of over 1,200 politicians and leaders from business, culture, faith, sport and the media about the implications of climate and nature breakdown for health, food systems, national security and the economy.
Now a 45-minute film is taking the message into towns and cities across the UK into village halls, cinemas, faith spaces and workplaces.
Dubbed the “People’s Emergency Briefing” the community screenings aim to bring constituents, civic leaders and MPs together to hear the evidence – and consider what an emergency response should look like.
Bath Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse attended a screening of the film at St John’s Church Hall, in the city. Combining authoritative scientific content from the Westminster event with reactions from members of the public and some more familiar faces, the short film is designed to help audiences process the information on a more human level.
The screening was followed by a structured discussion, supported by guidance from the NEB team, who were on hand to ensure the conversation remained constructive and focused on solutions, and on helping people process the information emotionally.
Many of those attending the event commented that although the facts are alarming, they felt a sense of optimism about confronting the challenge together.
Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, commented:
“This excellent film delivers frank facts about the threats from climate and nature breakdown – but also the enormous benefits if the government leads genuine emergency action to combat them.
“By enabling communities and decision-makers to engage with the same evidence together, the screening programme aims to create informed dialogue at the local and national level.
“I will continue to press the Government to take the climate emergency seriously to create a pathway to a better future.”
Going to add to this as have heard from Dave Searby:
“Around 75 people (including the MP for Bath, Wera Hobhouse) gathered at St Johns Church Hall in Bath on 7th April for a screening of The People’s Emergency Briefing on the Climate and Nature Emergency, followed by a public discussion about the issues raised in the film. The event was organised by Extinction Rebellion Bath.
The screening formed part of a wider UK programme of events designed to help communities engage with the climate and nature crisis, and supported by naturalist Chris Packham, who has said that ”I’d encourage people everywhere to attend a screening of The People’s Emergency Briefing. This new film creates exactly the kind of honest local conversation we now urgently need, both about the threat from climate and nature breakdown, but also about what we can do, together with our politicians, to build a better future.”
National Emergency Briefing – link to website
Among other issues, the audience learnt about the consequences of extreme weather arising from climate change including flooding and threats to our food supply systems and health. Additionally however, it highlighted how the transition required was both socially and economically a far better option than “business as usual”.
Discussion afterwards focused particularly on why important information about climate risks was being suppressed and why the costs and obstacles of a net zero transition were being emphasized by some politicians and by the media.
One speaker compared this disinformation from the fossil fuel lobby to that of the tobacco industry decades ago in suppressing information about the health hazards of smoking.
Gillian Risbridger, who helped organise the event, said: “One of the strongest feelings in the room was relief — that issues many people have quietly worried about for a long time were finally being spoken about openly, clearly and together.”
Organisers say there was strong interest in continued local engagement. A sizable number of attendees were interested in taking further action to further the aims of the Briefing and there are plans for another, much larger, screening in Bath.
Wera Hobhouse (who has already backed calls for a national TV screening of the briefing film) attended the event and stayed for discussion afterwards. “
