The Climate Crisis is Alive and Well…
…among the dreaming spires
Posted on 10 Jun 26
by Mark Hodgson
I have previously written about The Power of Emergency . It seems it never goes away – after all, it is a very useful tool.
Some time ago I joined the Oxford Climate Alumni Network (OxCAN). Its “Director Communications and External Liaison UK” (Andrew Lee) attended my old college four years after I left, so a sense of nostalgia impelled me to join. I realised, given its name, that it was likely to be concerned about climate change, and I joined because I reasoned that it was important to discover what fellow Oxonians were saying regarding this topic. I also assumed – naively, as it turns out – that as an organisation that emanates from the University where I gained a profound lesson in the importance of intellectual challenge, questioning everything, and thinking for oneself, would issue newsletters that contained at least a few items debating and questioning the severity of the “climate crisis”. Perhaps the occasional challenge to the disaster narrative? Maybe a few suggestions that there might be up-sides as well as down-sides? Possibly even someone brave enough to contemplate that UK net zero policies might be more harmful than beneficial? As it turns out – not a chance.
Periodically I receive updates in the form of emails. The most recent one arrived over a week ago, and I thought I would share some of its contents.
The National Emergency Briefing
It commenced with an editorial telling me that we all need to know about this:
The National Emergency Briefing is a UK-wide initiative which aims to communicate the latest scientific evidence on the climate and nature crisis directly to politicians, civic leaders, businesses, faith groups and the wider public. It was organised by the National Emergency Briefing project and brought together experts to clearly present the risks that climate and ecological breakdown pose to: food security, health, national security, infrastructure and the economy.
I was curious, so I checked out the website. Natually it is endorsed, inter alia, by Lord Deben (“The National Emergency Briefing could not be more timely. The science is moving fast, and every year the risks become clearer. Britain has led before, and we must lead again – not with words, but with action to protect our people, our prosperity and our children’s future. But first, all policymakers must ensure they are fully informed”) and by Michael Mann (“I urge all policymakers to engage with this critically important scientific advice. I’d like to see a National Emergency Briefing in every country”). Equally inevitably, the new film is presented by Chris Packham. The objective?
We are calling on the UK Government to stage a prime-time, multi-channel televised national emergency briefing to the nation, launching a major public engagement plan to communicate the scale and immediacy of the risks we face, combat rising disinformation – an essential step in building support for the wartime-scale response now needed.
That’s not all:
https://cliscep.com/2026/06/10/the-climate-crisis-is-alive-and-well/
