Paul Kaufman warns extreme hot weather will intensify

Brace yourself.

The weather we experience now is the least extreme we will experience in our lifetimes.

That is just one sobering thought from the National Emergency Briefing held at Westminster last November.

An expert panel addressed an audience of MPs, peers, and other key decision-makers on the climate and nature emergency facing the UK.

I recently had the honour of co-facilitating a screening of the briefing, organised by a local climate action group in my patch of East London.

It was one of a thousand plus events organised as a follow-up to the national briefing.

Paul Kaufman explains why he is angry that the Assisted Dying Bill has been blocked (Image: Paul Kaufman)

A packed audience, including a local MP and councillors, shared thoughts on information from experts on weather, health, food security, economics, and defence.

The film includes images of devastating floods and fires arising from climate change caused by human activity.

East London is not immune.

Wennington going up in flames in 2022, fires on Wanstead Flats, and multiple examples of flooding are all wake-up calls.

Each briefing event aims to raise awareness of the impact of the climate and nature crisis in the UK, to face up to it together, and to consider actions to take.

There was no point in discussing the validity of the science at our meeting.

The evidence is overwhelming.

Spreaders of disinformation are epitomised by Trump.

The science doesn’t suit his agenda, so he sacked the scientists, banned them from attending the latest climate conference, and removed their evidence from US Government websites.

There are parallels between today’s oil industry and the tobacco industry which recruited pundits to argue no link between smoking and cancer.

Some here, often Trump fans, share his ‘drill baby drill’ mentality.

They are outliers.

In 2015, an unprecedented 195 countries signed up to the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change.

The US alone then withdrew, joining a tiny handful of selfish and narrow-minded non-signatory oil states, including Iran.

The film carries positive messages.

Action will reap economic benefits, improvements in health, and in the quality of life.

We can make better choices as individuals, but the Government is key to urgently needed structural changes.

The Emergency Briefing calls for a government response commensurate with the scale of the emergency.

Everyone is encouraged to seek out a briefing event, or consider hosting one, and to help spread the word.

• Paul Kaufman is chair of East London Humanists.