People’s Emergency Briefing

Last night (Saturday 18th Arpil) I went to a showing of the film ‘People’s Emergency Briefing’ [1] at Pembroke College. I was a bit concerned this might turn out to be horribly alarmist but actually it was not overly negative - the facts are quite frightening enough - and the briefings included sensible actions we can take to reduce the impacts [1]. Do go and see it with your friends and family and consider supporting the campaign to get this shown on TV and get more MPs to see it (screening map here https://www.nebriefing.org/screening-map). The format of the film is friendly and non-technical. It is a bit like Gogglebox with clips of experts explaining the issues interspersed with reactions from a small panel sitting on a sofa.

I can’t say there was a great deal that was new to me but it did reinforce some important facts.

For example:

• We are already seeing dire impacts of climate change such as floods droughts and wildfires. These extreme weather events mean more frequent and more severe crop failures [2] leading to higher food prices [3].
• The pace of climate change is faster than scientists predicted [4].
• Climate change has severe impacts on our health - the climate emergency is also a health emergency. [5]

Getting MPs to see it is important. A few years ago I was shocked by a remark made by a friend at a dancing class (I used to learn Ceroc) that ‘Climate Change can’t be that serious or the government would do something about it’. Admittedly the impacts were not so obvious then but still, this attitude misses the point that our MPs are always nervous of the next election and are reluctant to support action that could be controversial. In fact voters are somewhat equivocal on this. A majority of voters do support net zero, but not necessarily the policies necessary to get there. Recently, there is greater concern about the cost of living [6]. We need to make up our minds on this and ensure our representatives are cognisant of our views.

Of course I was already greatly concerned about climate change and the same is undoubtedly true of most of the audience on Saturday. However, seeing the film reinforced this for me and inspired me to more action – hopefully the same will be true of you too. Go see it!

[1] National Emergency Briefing - Get involved (Euractiv)

[2] Europe's heat and drought crop losses tripled in 50 years (Euractiv:)

[3] Five charts: How climate change is driving up food prices around the world (Carbon Brief, Ajugust 2024)

[4] Pace of global warming has nearly doubled since 2015, reveals study (Carbon Brief, March 2026)

[5] Hot weather risks and their impact on health (slide set) (UK Health Security Agency, March 2026)

[6] How far does the public support net zero? (yougov.com, November 2025)