“Bad business as usual”: Redhill responds to the People’s Emergency Briefing
An audience is clearly energised for an event when, after being given three minutes to introduce themselves to someone new, it is difficult to stop them talking long enough to begin in earnest. So it proved on Sunday 27 September, when over 80 people filled the tables in a re-arranged space at St John’s Church to watch the People’s Emergency Briefing on climate change.
Summer of heatwaves and empty water butts
Climate change – the subject we were there to hear about and discuss – is, of course, a hot topic. Everyone has a tale to tell about surviving this summer’s five UK heatwaves. Below-average rainfall in all but one month of 2025 has been exacerbated by our baking summer, which itself follows a decade containing the hottest years on record, from 2015 to 2025.
Some parts of the country never came out of the water restrictions – colloquially, hosepipe bans – imposed last year. While some of us might be pleased that our pumpkins are flourishing, even if we still can’t get tomatoes to ripen on the vine, the fact that our water butts have been empty for months is far more alarming.
Adapting our gardens and growing habits to more climate-friendly crops, however, is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a changing climate.
What the People's Emergency Briefing covered
Audience members brought a wide range of experience, from people working almost full-time in environmental campaigning or sustainability to those with less experience in the field. Everyone, though, would have learned something from watching the People’s Emergency Briefing, a powerful 50-minute summary of a conference held last November.
Introduced by naturalist Chris Packham, the film showed snippets of the experts’ summaries, all available on the National Emergency Briefing website, alongside reactions from members of the public and celebrities.
As the experts explained, the changes to our climate:
affects our health and places a huge burden on the NHS;
stretches emergency services already struggling to cope with wildfires and flooding;
threatens food supply chains when crops fail; and
adds pressure on the military as people flee uninhabitable or uneconomic conditions.
Because the evidence and examples predated last November, the film did not mention this year’s UK wildfires, farmers using winter feed stocks because the grass did not grow, or wider crop failures caused by this summer’s drought.
But the message was clear: we are still burning fossil fuels at such a rate that we are on track for global warming above tolerable levels by 2050, and certainly by the turn of the next century.
“It never pays to delay”
Among the commentators in the film were comedian and actor Jennifer Saunders, television presenter Konnie Huq and businesswoman Deborah Meaden, best known from Dragons’ Den, where she often invests in environmentally friendly products.
Reflecting on an economist’s remark that acting sooner would have been more effective, Meaden said: “It never pays to delay.” She concluded, with Packham, that “business as usual” – failing to move faster towards renewable energy and the other economic benefits of a green economy – was simply “bad”.
Packham turned to Meaden and remarked of his new slogan: “‘Bad business as usual’ – you can have that.”
Audience reaction
Just as at the beginning of the event, the audience were galvanised and animated in their reaction. Those writing thoughts on flipcharts could barely keep up with the speed at which remarks were fed back to our “roving mic” around the tables.
Two pages were quickly filled with initial three-word reactions. These ranged from “radical action needed”, “disappointed in leaders” and “lack of progress” to “angry”, “optimism” and “scary but hopeful”.
The general feeling was that, although people were “despondent at our leaders”, they were encouraged that “solutions are there” and that action could be taken.
The discussion then turned to what could realistically be done at a local level. Suggestions included showing the film in secondary schools to engage the next generation, working with MPs, and making practical changes to travel, consumer and lifestyle habits.
The session concluded with agreement that we all need to raise awareness through continuing conversations in our community, and that these local connections are critical to making change happen.
Two calls to action
At the end of the event, the film organisers made two requests.
Write to your MP, urging them to back a Parliamentary Call for a National Emergency Briefing on climate. Like the Covid briefings, these would come from Downing Street and feature experts in a “topic of the day” news briefing, helping to set the agenda for the day’s media coverage. The idea is that everyone in the country should be briefed on climate change in this way. The film’s experts say that we have the answers needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels: renewable energy and investment in our economy. But change needs to be rapid, and governments and businesses are stalling. “The losers shout loudest,” Meaden reflected, meaning that the industries set to lose the most have the loudest voice.
Host a showing of the film in your community. This could be in a church – although the initiative is not faith-based or linked to any particular political party – a sixth form, a business or simply a hall your organisation can book for a couple of hours. Organisers also encourage hosts to hold a follow-up meeting, helping people digest the film’s content and turn concern into shared action.
While our area’s MP could not attend, a letter was read out on her behalf, and others gave short speeches about their community activism.
Join the follow-up meeting
In our case, a follow-up meeting will be held in the Loft, the upper room at St John’s Church Centre, on Tuesday 13 October. Tea and coffee will be available from 7.30pm, with a 7.45pm start. If you did not sign up at the event but have seen the film, please email ecochurch@stjohnsredhill.org.uk to let us know if you would like to come along.
Ian Lamont
St John’s Eco Church leader
With thanks to all who took part and helped organise and lead the event.
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