Sussex Green Living: Horsham joins National Climate Documentary Movement
Communities around the UK join new climate documentary movement. On 21st April Horsham joined this movement with the screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing (PEB) in a packed Trafalgar Road Baptist Church. The film, introduced by Chris Packham, did what it said on the tin – a comprehensive briefing on the climate and nature emergency that will now be with us for the foreseeable future.
National experts from multiple disciplines stressed that we are in an interconnected meta-crisis. Prof Kevin Anderson showed how carbon dioxide levels are way outside limits that kept our climate stable for 10,000 years. This is driving extreme weather and threats to our food, health, economics and national security. With CO2 levels still rising, climate change is following the worst-case scenarios. Furthermore, Prof Nathalie Seddon showed that nature depletion continues, placing Britain at the bottom of a very poor league, yet government is still subsidising activities that devastate nature.
With climate we now face tipping points that will make our environment unliveable. If ocean currents change, as is possible, then London’s winter temperatures could drop to minus 20C for 3 months of the year, but with summers hotter than now. As Prof Tim Lenton summarised: this will end the growing of crops in this country!
However, there are favourable tipping points in human innovation, technology, economics and human values which can turn things around. We know the solutions; most are already available and could be stepped up given government leadership.
With such a heavy message, delivered by experts with persuasive force, an audience could feel depressed or overwhelmed. However, this was not the atmosphere in the hall. Some entered the room feeling worried but left feeling hopeful. Ideas flowed regarding how the film could be cascaded out to multiple audiences. From social media posts to versions for schools and promotion to Councils, there was a hunger to take this forward. The film is now being shown in hundreds of locations (map), so there is relief that, finally, the national conversation is being re-set to address the most important issue of our time.
As Lt General Richard Nugee said – “in the military we say you must face the threat that is in front of you, not the threat that you would like it to be”. At present our entire political discourse seems to talk about almost any other imagined threat. When the military says we need a dose of reality, maybe we should take notice!
Get involved by:
Watch the trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x2XhvEbz24
Lobbying your MP to act
Follow, like and share @NEBriefing
Organise a screening in your community
In summing up Dr Tony Whitbread, President of Sussex Wildlife Trust and chair for the evening said: “At last, perhaps, this crisis is being taken seriously! I read ‘Limits to Growth’ back in the 1970s. The need for change was clear then; 50 years later, maybe, we’ll get on with it”.
A recent classified government Intelligence Report has been largely withheld from the public. It identified severe and urgent security threats caused by environmental breakdown and has acknowledged that nature loss and climate change pose risks to national security, highlighting the most serious risk to our food supply. We produce even less of our food today than we did in the Second World War.
The strong final call of the PEB film is to ask the government to urgently show a televised national version so that people can see it in their own homes, and to treat the multiple crises we are experiencing and all the implications of that even more seriously than the COVID pandemic. Horsham’s MP John Milne has already written to the Prime Minister about this, but other local MPs may not be so aware.
Longstanding Transition Horsham member, Dr Maggie Weir Wilson, said, “The beauty of watching the film in a small local venue like this is that we can respond together as this crisis is affecting everyone. It’s rapidly accelerating and the conversations with our neighbours and local leaders can help us decide together how to best respond and prepare for extreme heat or cold and for food shortages, rather than waiting for the government to help.
We've known about climate change for half a century but very little has been done.”
Dr Tony Whitbread talked about the relief he felt that it's finally being presented clearly and simply, explaining how the economy, weather, transport, fuel, food and our health are all intertwined. Nature is the bedrock that supports all life on the planet, including our own. The government's own reports have clearly shown this, but they have been ignored for decades.
A further local showing will be in Horsham on Friday 26th June, with another in Henfield on 10th May – learn more and book your ticket here www.sussexgreenliving.org.uk/events-calendar/.
Learn how to organised your own screening and search the UK map for screenings which have already been organised here https://www.nebriefing.org/.
Sussex Green Living will be in a Swan Walk shop unit (near the Horsham Wellbeing Hub, RH12 1HQ) every Wednesday from 29th April - 27th May 10am - 4pm available to discuss solutions and actions people can take.
Editor: Dr Tony Whitbread, President of Sussex Wildlife Trust written for Sussex Green Living