Forewarned is forearmed
Spoiler alert: this is not a typical August silly season blog, so if that is what you prefer, better look away now….
A friend contacted me a week or two ago regarding a showing of The National Emergency Briefing film at a local church. Now I confess I didn’t have a clue what she was on about and wasn’t available that evening anyway. But I was curious and decided to check it out.
Well, who knew? Perhaps everyone else did, but I was amazed to discover that this film is being shown around the country in places of work, worship and community centres. Here is how the film came to be made:
On 27 November 2025, Westminster Hall hosted a National Emergency Briefing, bringing together more than 1,200 invited politicians and leaders from business, culture, faith, sport, and the media – national decision-makers. Introduced by Chris Packham CBE, ten of the UK’s foremost experts addressed the audience on the threats posed by climate change and nature loss and on the opportunities for genuine emergency action. They want these decision-makers to step up their response to the escalating climate and nature crisis. The campaign is supported by a wide range of well-known organisations. Ten topics were addressed at the briefing, chaired by Professor Mike Berners-Lee – you know, Tim’s bro. They covered:
● Weather extremes
● Climate
● Tipping points
● Nature
● Food security
● Health
● National security
● Economics
● Energy transition
They are campaigning for a televised emergency briefing on the climate and nature crisis, introduced by the PM and delivered by independent experts, as an essential step to ‘unlock the wartime-scale response now required’. Yes… wartime-scale response, you read it correctly. They make the point that despite the scale of the risks now facing the UK, there has been no comprehensive national emergency briefing delivered to the public by the Government.
In order to move the process along, they made the film to act as a catalyst for a wider public conversation and a stepping stone towards a live televised national briefing. Screenings are being run through the year, with more being added every day, and there is an interactive map where you can put in your postcode to find out when the next screening will take place near you: https://www.nebriefing.org/screening-map
There is also a petition created by Chris Packham to encourage the Government to hold a UK-wide briefing on climate and nature risks, should you wish to sign it: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/767687
We have all been watching with horror as flames engulf large parts of continental Europe. As I write the fires on Dunwich Heath in Suffolk – an area I know well – have yet to be completely contained, while wildlife habitats devastated by the fire could take up to 25 years to recover.
History tells us that if communities come together, much can be achieved; this project is in its infancy but I wish it well. We have to face what is coming and find out what we can do. It’s no good pretending things are fine – they aren’t, but there are plenty of opportunities to mitigate the outcomes.
Do check out a screening near you, and have a good summer holiday!