ON the evening of the 8th April, seventeen people attended a non-party-political screening of a film outlining the extreme severity of the climate crisis that is now affecting the UK and the rest of the world at St Stephen’s Church in Bush Fair.

Members of the public were told about many aspects of the crisis in the 50-minute film produced by the National Emergency Briefing, an organisation that empowers people to understand the nature of the crisis, with excerpts from presentations to MPs by a variety of experts last November.

Presented by the naturalist Chris Packham with comments and opinions from members of the public and celebrities about the presentations, it covered issues such as explaining the changes in the climate, the tipping points that will change the world dramatically, and the effects on national security such as extreme food and water shortages. It also covered the economics of inaction verses taking action now to mitigate for the crisis, such as transitioning to renewable energy sources to insulate the UK from rising oil prices caused by global political instability, and the need to act now to prevent even worse effects in the future, with costs to the UK multiplying exponentially. One expert commented “the climate we live in today will be the least extreme climate we will experience in our lifetimes”.

After the film, guests were invited to share their reactions, such as shock at the depth of the crisis, or not knowing about such an important issue. The presenter, Paul King, gave some ideas to the attendees what can be done. The first action is to email our MP, Chris Vince, to ask him to call for a televised National Emergency briefing by the government, similar to those held during the Covid crisis, to inform the public of the scale of the crisis we face, and what the government is doing to mitigate it. Attendees also discussed ideas about how to get involved with environmental work and campaigning in the local area. A follow-up meeting will be held in a month’s time.

Chris Vince, along with all Harlow councillors, were invited to the screening but apart from two councillors making their apologies, and one booking a ticket but not attending, no others replied nor attended. These are the people who can make the necessary changes, such as ensuring builders DO build more ecologically-safe homes, and legislating to make our energy cleaner and more secure.

If you wish to arrange a screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing for your workplace, place of study, faith group or society, please contact Paul King at [email protected].