The People’s Emergency Briefing was shown at Hitchin Boys School on July 2, followed by a discussion about the climate crisis and its impact on the local area.
The event was one of more than 1,000 screenings held across the UK since April as part of a national effort to promote community dialogue on environmental issues.
Vicky Wyer, organiser of Hitchin’s Triangle Garden, said: “This is fast becoming a viral national phenomenon, with ordinary people like us hosting community and workplace screenings up and down the country.
“If you missed this one I’d urge you to get along to the screening at the Broadway on July 9.”
Naturalist Chris Packham has publicly backed the project, describing it as “exactly the kind of honest local conversation we now urgently need” about climate and nature breakdown.
Attendees raised topics including the recent heatwave, the failure of chiller units in local supermarkets, and the importance of sustained dialogue with elected representatives.
Rhys Waterman of Hitchin Boys School, who supported the event, said: “I think one of the strongest feelings in the room was relief — that issues many people have silently worried about for a long time were finally being spoken about openly, clearly and together.
“People also said they were encouraged to hear that we already have the solutions in front of us; we just need the political courage to change the rules to make them happen.”
More than half of those who attended said it was their first time at an environmental event.
Hitchin MP Alistair Strathern and several councillors were present, alongside business and community leaders from Willmott Dixon, Bowles & Wyer, and NH&SCVS.
