Call for an urgent televised national emergency briefing

by Graham Wroe

On Thursday 27th of November, 1200 people gathered in Central Hall, Westminster,  including more than a hundred and fifty parliamentarians and leaders from business, culture and the media. The National Emergency Briefing explained how the climate emergency is affecting us as a nation and as a global civilisation.

Sheffield was represented by Olivia Blake MP, but it was disappointing that other local MPs did not accept the invitation. It was good to see Sheffield icon Jarvis Cocker there. I once stood alongside him as he spoke on the City Hall steps about the Sheffield chainsaw massacre. So hopefully, he will now be reaching out to the Common People about the climate and nature emergencies.

Chris Packham opened the Briefing, speaking about our planet as seen from space. He railed against the oil industry, saying “climate denialism has become a mainstream thing again, thanks to the well-oiled machines of the rich, powerful, and influential lobbyists from the fossil fuel and other industries. A dangerous wave of misinformation and lies fills our lives. But worse, it fills the lives of our decision makers. These are the people who shape policy. Where’s the evidence of this? Well, they just trashed COP 30, an instrument that’s always been doomed to fail because to reach any meaningful agreement requires a consensus, and the oil states have always said no.” 

Climate scientist Kevin Anderson spoke about how emissions continue to rise and overheat our planet. He said, “ We’re going to see a rise of about 2 degrees centigrade by the middle of this century. It’s very hard to imagine that it’ll be any less than that. But there’s now a small but very real risk that we could hit 4 degrees centigrade by the end of this century. Now the prospects of 3 and 4 degrees of warming are absolutely dire. I mean, we cannot risk that at all. It’s an extreme and unstable climate, far beyond any safe zone that has nurtured our civilisation. We’re going to be seeing unprecedented societal and ecological collapse at these levels. We’re going to see escalating geopolitical instability and rising military tensions. And there’ll be no real economy to talk about. There’s no ‘reduction in GDP’. We’d be looking at systemic collapse. 

Scientists have long warned that heating the planet more than 1.5 degrees C will lead to tipping points. Professor Lenton talked about these.  A tipping point is like leaning back on your chair. Passing the balance point leads to a big problem!   “There’ll be a self-propelling change from one stable state of the system to another. Tim’s explanation of the consequences of a collapsing AMOC was frightening. In London, winter is minus 20 degrees Celsius and three months of the year are frozen. And in Edinburgh, it’s minus 30 degrees and frozen for five and a half months of the year. And yet the summers will still be hotter than today because it’s a 2 degrees warmer world. Growing crops in the UK becomes impossible, and there’d be a major water security crisis. There would not be enough water from the winters to get through the summers.

Globally, a collapse of AMOC would mean wheat and maize harvests reduced by half.

Other experts gave important briefings on health, national security, economics and other issues. 

Organisers of the briefing want you to sign a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, Tim Davie (BBC), Carolyn McCall (ITV), Jonathan Allan (Channel 4), Sarah Rose (Channel 5), Geraint Evans (S4C), and Dame Melanie Dawes (Ofcom)

The letter explains we must urgently prepare for a cascade of serious societal impacts. The rapidly escalating climate and nature crises are set to make the UK increasingly unrecognisable and dangerous, with extreme weather events, the risk of food shortages, price shocks, economic instability and rising geopolitical risks.
Signers are deeply alarmed by the scale of fossil fuel–funded disinformation that has flooded Westminster and the media. The lack of public access to accurate, science-based information has created a vacuum which has been filled by polarised headlines designed to deny and delay action.

Under the Communications Act 2003, all public service broadcasters must inform the public on major national and international issues. The UK has so far failed to meet these obligations. The Climate Change Committee has also urged the Government to provide trusted public information.

The letter asks the Government and all public service broadcasters to hold an urgent televised national emergency briefing for the public, and to run a comprehensive public engagement campaign so that everyone understands the profound risks this crisis poses to themselves and their families.

If delivered urgently and truthfully, with ambition matching the scale of the crisis, this will not only ensure that the public is properly informed but will also offer the protection that knowledge and preparedness bring. Such a campaign will resonate with the public, opening up the political space for the action needed.
We are not safe. This is an emergency. Now is the time for courage and to put trust in the public. The UK has a track record of uniting to face difficult challenges. Now is the time to do this again.
Please sign the letter here. https://www.nebriefing.org/open-letter-keir