Friday briefing: How a grassroots film is turning climate anxiety into action
Good morning. Here we are, stumbling into an oddly warm autumn and with the aftermath of a ceaselessly dry summer all around us in our parched parks and fire-ravaged forests. With the change in season, the headlines are no less gruelling. At the start of the week, more than 450,000 people are predicted to die from an unprecedented El Niño over the next six months. At the end of the week, a report by UK intelligence chiefs reveals the extent to which the collapse of natural systems threatens security and defence around the world – a report which, as the Guardian revealed, was suppressed under former prime minister Keir Starmer’s leadership. Meanwhile, as Hettie has written about in a previous newsletter, right-leaning climate sceptics continue to seed doubt about the glaring reality wherever they may. Overload, silencing and misinformation can generate fear, suspicion, grief, helplessness, a compulsion to look away or to focus on paying the next bill. But this summer, I’ve been hearing about another climate briefing – in film form – that aims to engage all of those emotions. It’s as much about giving people the information they deserve as it is about helping them deal with it once they have it. You won’t see it on Netflix, but your neighbour might be screening it at the local scout hall this weekend: for today’s newsletter, I spoke to Nick Oldridge, co-founder of the People’s Emergency Briefing, about how a film about the end of the world became a grassroots movement. First, the headlines. Five big stories UN general assembly | Benjamin Netanyahu delivered an inflammatory address to the United Nations, decrying what he said was a global anti-Jewish conspiracy and swatting aside criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza. UK news | Far-right agitator and anti-migrant activist Daniel Thomas has been arrested after he filmed himself appearing to slash the side of a dinghy while a rescuer was onboard. Iran | Iran says it has told Trump it is willing to open the strait of Hormuz in six days, and to start talks on its nuclear program the day after, so long as the US lifts sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, ends the war on all fronts – including in Lebanon – and releases some frozen assets. Ukraine | Ukrainian refugees fear they could be left homeless after the government quietly axed 70% of funding for hosts of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, reducing monthly “thank you” payments. World news | Xi Jinping has called for extensive cooperation with Washington to avoid the “Thucydides trap” that could put the US and China on a military collision course amid rising tensions over AI, trade and Taiwan. In depth: ‘It’s clear evidence that this model works for engaging politicians’ Have you seen that climate film yet? You know, the one you read about on the Guardian website and then a friend of a friend emailed you about it, but other things got in the way until your best pal watched it and said you absolutely had to see it and then you looked it up and realised there were screenings happening all around you. That was my experience, at least. The People’s Emergency Briefing began life, in real life. Last November, nine climate experts delivered a “first-of-its-kind national emergency briefing” to an audience of MPs, civic and business leaders in Westminster. It was, by all reports, a galvanising event. The organising team – including pioneer in carbon footprinting Prof Mike Berners-Lee and TV environmentalist Chris Packham – then crowdfunded to turn the in-person briefing into a film, which anyone can register to screen in their local village hall, faith centre, workplace or wherever else they can get bums on seats. I watched the briefing myself at an arts centre in Paisley on a sunny Friday evening last month. The 50-minute film felt like 15, as the roster of experts set out in plain language how global heating is affecting all aspects of life in the UK: the economy, food, healthcare, nature, national security. It’s a hard watch. The alarming – but never alarmist – message is that the climate is changing much faster than expected, and that we are woefully unprepared for it. The grinding frustration of these experts – who have been repeating these stark facts to a sclerotic government and a sceptical public for years – is evident, but there is also hope. The aim is to demand that the prime minister convenes a Covid-style primetime emergency briefing on the climate and nature crisis, led by independent experts. As Packham says as he introduces the film: “I understand it’s human nature to prefer not to know, to try to bury our heads in the sand. But if we all take a breath and watch this together, well first of all that’s a huge relief and second we can figure out what to do about it.” *** Do it like Gogglebox What’s unique about the film is both how it’s framed and how it’s watched. “We knew you can’t just film people talking at podiums,” Oldridge explains, “so we decided: ‘We’ll do it like Gogglebox’.” Spliced between the expert commentary, members of the public sit on a sofa across from Packham and talk about what they’ve just watched. “This is the nub of it,” says Oldridge. “This film has got to be watched in groups, people who experience it together and then talk about it, instead of the isolated way we usually consume media.” Since the first community screening on 7 April, the film has become a word-of-mouth phenomenon – so far 2,789 screenings have taken place, with a further 1,395 planned. Readers across the country, from the south of England to north-east Scotland, have contacted the Guardian’s Environment desk to tell us about their involvement. Anna Taylor, trustee of Wendover Climate Action, who organised a packed screening in the Buckinghamshire village after reading about the original Westminster event in the Guardian, told me: “It’s spurred me on so that, if nothing else, my kids will know I tried to make things better for them”. Any group can register to host a screening, and will receive a carefully scripted guide for steering the discussion afterwards as viewers process some difficult material. Organisers have told me how essential it felt for people to sit together and share their immediate reflections on what was a shocking film for many, even those who considered themselves familiar with climate science. That was my experience: the lump in my throat got smaller as I listened to other people talking about their visceral shock, anxiety and plans to take action. Groups are also encouraged to invite local politicians – not to put them on stage to shout at but so they can sit among the audience as another community member. (Eleven were invited to the Paisley screening, none came – you know who you are!). *** Will it burst through the eco-bubble? One of the threads we unravelled in the discussion after my screening was how to normalise climate conversations: “How do we reach people who don’t even believe climate change is happening?” asked one woman. (It’s worth interjecting here that tracker polling suggests this summer’s extreme weather has prompted a big jump in voters’ ranking of the environment as an issue.) But it’s a question that the People’s Emergency Briefing team have wrangled with extensively. Inevitably there’s an element of self-selection with community screenings, but there’s ongoing work to bring the film to wider audiences at Quaker meeting houses, churches and cathedrals, the Women’s Institute, hospitals, school staff rooms, the national lottery, the V&A, Channel 4, and even here at the Guardian. All the organisers I heard from had plans to run more screenings and diversify audiences, while viewers reported feeling more hopeful, better informed and more motivated to act. “We first realised something was happening when we watched the booming community screenings,” says Oldridge. “But now all these big brands are doing it too. You’re always trying to break beyond the eco-bubble and I think we’ve got a very good chance of doing that now”. *** What difference can it make? In recent years, the orthodoxy around climate communications has tended towards telling only hopeful stories, with a recognition that the public were beyond capacity for bad news. “But we felt quite strongly that we need to reset the baseline of understanding,” says Oldridge. “Most surveys show people are worried, but they see it as a far away problem. And they don’t have all the facts that relate to the UK and their own lives.” This is especially salient when the right weaponise net zero as a threat to the economy. Mindful of this context, the film is trenchant in its optimism. It avoids finger-wagging; there’s no scolding of those of us who still fly or eat cheese. There’s a recognition that – however helpful individual effort can be – climate change isn’t a problem that isolated action can solve. Rather, it calls for an emergency response equal to that rolled out during the pandemic, or a war. “Our effort is focused purely on change driven by government, helping the public understand that they are one of the pieces of the jigsaw that enable the government to be bold enough to make those changes,” says Oldridge. A major academic study of the film’s impact will be published next month and early findings suggest that every screening in a constituency makes its MP more likely to back a televised emergency briefing. “It’s clear evidence that this model works for engaging politicians.” There is engagement too at the top of government, according to our environment editor Fiona Harvey. She reported this week how Ed Miliband brought the national security warnings to global attention at the UN general assembly in New York, with the backing of Andy Burnham. It marks a growing openness from the prime minister towards climate action, she believes, encouraged by Miliband and that goes beyond campaigning pragmatism ahead of the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, where Labour is taking on Green leader Zack Polanski. Perhaps there is room for guarded optimism, as there is in this devastating film about the systemic collapse of society that is paradoxically hopeful. As one member of the public says on screen: “It’s not as if we need to go off and invent all the solutions. They’re right there. We just need to use them”. What else we’ve been enjoying Our politics and graphics desks teamed up on this exclusive report into how, as it stands, tactical voting could push Reform into fourth and leave Labour clinging to a thin majority at the next election. (And here’s a bonus read on the five progressive groups they will need to satisfy to even have a chance). Charlie Lindlar, newsletters team This gallery of shots from French photographer Martine Barrat, of people in Harlem and the Bronx in the 70s and 80s, is beyond beautiful. Barrat had a deep love for these neighbourhoods, and their communities, and it radiates from every tender photograph. Lucinda Everett, newsletters team Fascinating piece for this week’s Moving the Goalposts newsletter by Elizabeth Payne on whether the time has come for separated home and away seating at women’s football. Charlie Before you write off this year’s Oscars battle as a one-(Trojan)-horse race, have a read of Benjamin Lee’s excellent run down of the contenders who might stop The Odyssey sweeping the boards. Lucinda For the Filter, Bay Garnett has an authoritative guide to secondhand shopping in 2026 – “Wear and tear isn’t necessarily a reason to put something back,” she rightly urges. Charlie Sport Football | Joao Felix scored the only goal as reigning Nations League champions Portugal opened their campaign with a 1-0 home win over Wales; and a stoppage-time equaliser rescued a 1-1 draw for the Netherlands against Germany. Cricket | Sri Lanka pulled off a dramatic 16-run win over England in the second one-day international at Headingley to level the three-match series despite a heroic effort from injured Jos Buttler. Rugby union | Harlequins, Northampton and Gloucester are attracting serious interest from overseas investors with Prem Rugby entering an expansionist phase before its first season as a closed league begins on Friday. Something for the weekend Our critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now TV The Great British Bake Off (Channel 4) | ★★★★★ The culinary competition’s newest judge, Nigella Lawson, is a soothing presence, bringing a streak of romance that perfectly complements Paul Hollywood’s ever-practical approach. Read Lucy Mangan’s full review. Music Gilla Band: Pugnello | ★★★★★ Your favourite band’s favourite band unleash a thrilling and relentless 42 minutes of monstrous noise whose precise instrumental source always remains discomfitingly unclear. Read Alexis Petridis’s full review. Film Remake (in cinemas now) | ★★★★★ Sherman’s March director Ross McElwee revisits footage of his late son for this magnificently affecting film and meditation on making art. Read Leslie Felperin’s full review. Art Amar Kanwar (Serpentine North) | ★★★★☆ Having made lyrical films for over 40 years, about everything from the end of empire to sexual brutality, the unflinching Indian artist’s new exhibition continues his focus on the parts of gruesome stories that are often missed. Read Ben Eastham’s full review. The front pages The Guardian splashes on “Two-year delay in assessments of autism due to pressures on NHS”. The FT leads with “Xi urges rivals to ‘coexist in peace’ as Trump hosts White House visit” and the Independent has “Trump and Xi clash over AI at tense state visit”. Top story at the Times is “Met chief: Stop putting offenders before victims”, the Daily Mail has “Labour’s army of migrants” and The i Paper leads on “NHS corridor care killing 550 people every week”. The Telegraph reports “Fiennes kept in care home illegally”, the Sun goes with “Fergie’s squeaky bum time for royals” and the Mirror has “I was sexually assaulted by celeb at home” – in relation to the former England striker Andy Carroll. The Latest Rogue AI hacks government system for first time A government database has been hacked for the first time by a rogue OpenAI agent, which infiltrated part of the Australian healthcare scheme in June. OpenAI became aware of the hack in August, but only informed the government in September. Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has expressed his “extreme concern” about the hack, which raises serious AI security concerns for governments around the world. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s UK technology editor Robert Booth. Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad It’s officially autumn, but you will have noticed that it’s also sometimes summer and sometimes winter. That can make it hard to figure out what to eat every day, but have no fear: for this week’s Feast newsletter, Honey and Co’s Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer scribbled down some ideas. From rice salads to red pepper orecchiette and roasted squash, dig in and find something comforting, no matter the weather. And for yet more inspiration, sign up here to get our free weekly food newsletter every Thursday. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until Monday. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
