Emergency briefing: the Everyman cinema at Crystal Palace was packed last night
The Everyman cinema in Crystal Palace last night screened People’s Emergency Briefing, a shocking new documentary that emphasises the reality and urgency of the climate crisis, at which a group called the Penge Climate Collective added their voices to a campaign opposing all new oil and gas development.
Fronted by environmentalist Chris Packham and actor Jennifer Saunders, the film was made before the climate crisis-induced drought experienced by most of Britain in the last four months.
And it was made before the horrific floods and destruction caused by the glacier collapse in the Himalayas last month, which claimed the lives of more than a thousand people and devastated whole villages in Tibet and Nepal.
Community groups across Croydon and neighbouring areas will be hosting similar screenings of People’s Emergency Briefing in the coming weeks.Booking details can be found below.
The film tries to cut through the complexity of the climate emergency in an accessible and compelling way.
It brings together the latest scientific evidence about the climate crisis, the impacts already being experienced and the solutions available – giving communities the information they need to understand both the scale of the emergency and the action required.
After last night’s screening, attendees were invited to sign a banner calling for the any drilling in the North Sea’s Rosebank oil field to be stopped.
The banner will now travel to other People’s Emergency Briefings across London, gathering signatures from communities along the way. As Prime Minister Andy Burnham is due to make a decision on licensing Rosebank soon, “the aim is to create a collective message from Londoners that new oil and gas projects have no place in a safe climate future”, the Penge group said today..
“We were really pleased to see such a strong response, with the screening fully booked and a waiting list of people keen to attend,” a spokesperson from the Penge group told Inside Croydon.
“It shows there is a real appetite within the borough to understand the climate and nature emergency and what we can do about it.
“The discussion after the film was really engaging, with people raising practical concerns around electric vehicles, farming and diets, as well as sharing local initiatives including Fossil Free London.
Keep your promises: campaigners such as the Penge Climate Collective want the government to honour its commitments over oil and gas drilling
“That’s exactly what we hoped the evening would achieve – turning concern into conversation, connection and action.”
Robin Wells, a director of Fossil Free London, said, “This summer the climate emergency has been felt by residents across the capital. Crystal Palace Park along with other parks in our city were placed under ‘extreme wildfire risk’ following an unprecedented 40 days over 30°C.
“People in Crystal Palace have watched the briefing and then put their names to a very clear demand – Stop Rosebank. Our government needs to know that the only people that want more oil and gas is the oil and gas industry!”
Rosebank has been a major focus of climate campaigning in Britain because approving new oil and gas extraction is incompatible with the country’s climate commitments.
Other screenings of The People’s Emergency Briefing coming up:
- South Norwood, Friends of Love Lane Green: Sun Sep 13
- Croydon, Ruskin House, Fri Sep 18
- Penge Climate Collective, Tue Sep 29
- Sutton, Ruskin Hall, Thu Oct 8
The screenings are free, but do require you to book a ticket in advance, available via the links above.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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Is Penge the only place with a Climate Collective, or are they everywhere so there are climate collectives in Beckenham, Crystal Palace, Streatham, etc.?
I’m only aware of Penge Climate Collective locally, however there is a Climate Cafe in Beckenham and Greener and Cleaner are a very active environmental community group in Bromley. Stanley Arts also have an environmental programme. You can find other screenings of the documentary via NEBriefing.org where there is a map – there are quite a few screenings locally which will identify a hosting organisation that might be more local to you
This new documentry the people emergency briefing should of been shown in all the cinemas in every town across the country regarding the climate crisis we have got around the world the fact is [people need to know about the climate emergency it was reported in the guardian that el nino is super expanding if summer 2026 was an extremely hot year with no rain then what can we expect for summer 2027 will it be even far more hot than 2026 with el nino now super expanding at full force
It’s amazing to see there are now over 4,200 community screenings that have all been organised by a local group or organisation – it shows the sheer breadth of interest in this issue. I agree more needs to be done – you can sign your name to the campaign for a national TV briefing to be screened on nebriefing.org