Putney Screening Sparks Local Discussion on Climate Crisis
Over 70 attend showing of The People's Emergency Briefing
Angela Francis addresses the meeting
May 1, 2026
Around 70 people gathered at St Mary’s Church, Putney, on 28 April for a community screening of The People’s Emergency Briefing , followed by smallgroup discussions about the film’s message and its local implications.
Introduced by naturalist Chris Packham, the 50minute film condenses key clips from the threehour National Emergency Briefing held at Westminster Central Hall in November 2025, where more than 1,200 attendees — including MPs, peers, business leaders and journalists — heard leading UK experts outline the risks posed by climate and nature breakdown to food security, health, national security, infrastructure and the economy.
Since its launch on 7 April, the film has been screened by local groups in churches, cinemas, libraries and schools nationwide, with more than 2,000 screenings already scheduled. Packham said the project was designed to spark “honest local conversation” about both the threats and the opportunities for collective action.
Attendees in Putney were encouraged to support the campaign for a primetime televised emergency briefing on the climate and nature crisis by signing an open letter to the Prime Minister and writing to their local MP, Fleur Anderson , urging her to back the parliamentary call. Anderson and local councillors were invited to attend the event.
Among the speakers was Angela Francis, Director of Policy at WWF and economics speaker from the original Westminster briefing. “Back in November I felt some nervousness about giving such a stark message to the public,” she said. “But it’s 2026 and we haven’t got time to wait for government to do this themselves. The film is a way to speak to people directly and get them to tell the government they want a televised briefing and they want action. The televised briefing isn’t the end of this — it’s a mechanism by which the government can be made to own the problem.”
Organiser Caroline Hartnell said she was struck by how engaged the audience remained after the screening. “Almost everyone stayed on for the discussion. They really wanted to talk about the film, how they felt about it and what they could do. Quite a few people were interested in hosting screenings themselves.”
A followup climate café is planned to give residents further opportunity to explore the issues raised.
Chairing the evening, Marion Neffgen urged attendees to join local environmental groups to stay involved. “We know that over 80% of the British public are highly concerned about the climate crisis and want stronger climate action. Joining a group opens up new ways of engaging with this, drives positive change and is the best antidote to despair and climate anxiety.”
The event was hosted by a coalition of local organisations — XR Wandsworth, Greener Jobs Alliance, Christian Climate Action, Greenpeace South West London, Balham Climate Action and Transition Town Tooting .
The full National Emergency Briefing talks can be viewed at www.nebriefing.org.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |