The People’s Emergency Briefing is a hard hitting, highly informative, relatively short film which presents the climate emergency in a refreshingly rebooted format designed for mass consumption.
The film moves at a good pace and rapidly covers a lot of ground working through key thematic areas such as: defence, food and the economy. Each section is led by an international expert so the information delivered is high calibre.
This film is the opposite of online scare moungering. It is a reality check - an extremely well researched overview of the current situation on Planet Earth based on scientific research and the best available data.
SUPPORTED BY HEROES LIKE YOU
Support independent eco journalism that drives real change.The smart team behind the film want to raise awareness motivate people to collectively call for a primetime screening on national TV. As far as they are concerned, we have been living in denial for too long. Their theory of change is that by connecting a critical mass of our population with the reality of our situation and collectively calling for a nationwide reality check we still have time to avoid the worst scenarios of runaway climate change.
Some feedback about the film has been that it is depressing. Undoubtedly, it is tough viewing and it takes a certain amount of grit to sit down in front of this film. However, surely, the really depressing thing is that humans have known about dangers of climate change for so long and still have not managed to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses?
I watched the film with 20 other people. We were all deeply affected but not in a bad way. The film is galvanizing. It is a rallying cry for us to link up together and finally sort out this problem. Wouldn't we rather know what is really happening rather than sleepwalk into oblivion like the dinosaurs?
Historically, much environmental communication has pumped an excess of scary data onto a general population that wasn’t prepared for it and this often fails to achieve the desired result of driving change.
This film was produced with input from the Climate Psychology Alliance who “explore psychological responses to the climate crisis to strengthen relationships and resilience for a just future.” They have realised that scary data is not enough. It is how we absorb and feel about that information that actually determines what we do next.
All around the country thousands of screenings are taking place and each one is designed to be held in such a way that the viewers are guided through the painful emotions to a positive motivational outcome. The film actually shows live reactions from viewers who represent an interesting cross section of UK society.
Chris Packham does a heroic job of holding the whole thing together and chuckles knowingly as graphs showing exponential spikes in carbon and temperature make a satisfying smattering of quality celebrities gasp and groan.
I am part of a team of people working together to produce a large free screening for our home town of Frome. We hope to have 200 people there on the big night Thursday May 21st. Sue Palmer another person working on the event said -
"We are in a climate and ecological emergency - it's uncomfortable and upsetting but we can't ignore it - it won't just go away. The solutions are here, we just need to act - and the more of us involved, the better it is. If you feel like no one else cares, take a look at this map of screenings - you'll feel better."
It is exciting that this film is catching on the way that it has. The mainstream media is full of misinformation and climate denialism funded by the fossil fuel industry. Despite this, the climate movement will not go away. It relentlessly regroups and reforms and reinvents itself. This new chapter is a welcome blast of new energy.
The film ends positively. The economics are clear that we save much more money acting on climate change now then if we wait. Taken as a whole, the experts in the film reveal the maddening yet invigorating truth. We have everything we need to fix the climate problem right now. We are being hoodwinked into thinking we don’t by a tiny group of people getting grotesquely rich by polluting the atmosphere.
All the solutions exist right now, not just to fix climate change, but also to create fairer societies, free from pollution, in which we can all thrive within an abundant and evolving natural world. The challenge is political and requires a critical mass of people to choose decisively to end the use of fossil fuels. If you haven’t done it yet, book your ticket to see the film and don’t forget to tell your friends about it!
The People's Emergency Briefing film
Frome Screening - Thursday 21st of May
