On Saturday, 15 August, 120 people packed into a Parish Hall on the Sussex coast to hear the evidence about the climate and nature crisis. Less than 24 hours earlier, every phone in England had gone off with the government's biggest-ever emergency alert - warning of a very high risk of wildfires nationally. This is what happened in that room.
On Friday evening, phones across England and Wales buzzed with a severe alert issued by the UK Government. There is a very high risk of wildfires nationally. It was the biggest use yet of the emergency alert system - sent to tens of millions of people on one of the hottest days of the year, at the end of the driest July in 190 years.
Less than 24 hours later, 120 people chose to pack into the Parish Hall in Lancing - England's largest village, on the West Sussex coast - on a sweltering Saturday afternoon. They'd come to watch the People's Emergency Briefing: a 50-minute film, presented by Chris Packham, that lays out the evidence about the climate and nature crisis with clarity, honesty, and an urgency that the room could feel.
The People's Emergency Briefing doesn't pull its punches. It covers what's happening to our food systems, our health, our national security, and our economy. It's stark. But before anyone saw a frame of it, I needed to hold the room. To set the context. To make sure that the evidence landed on people who already knew what was in their own community - and what was possible.
What I Said
As Chair of Lancing Parish Council, it was my job to introduce the film. Not to minimise the scale of the wartime-scale response now needed. But to ground the room in something local, real and hopeful, before they were fully briefed on what the growing climate and nature emergency means for our lives, our economy and our future.
Here's what I said:
Good afternoon and welcome, everybody, to the first public screening of the People's Emergency Briefing in Lancing. On behalf of Lancing Parish Council, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to you all.
It takes a special kind of determination to sit inside on one of the hottest days of the year and engage with something as challenging as this film. So, first and foremost, I want to acknowledge that - thank you for being here.
Before we begin, I want to say a few words about what we're trying to achieve today.
As a council, we are deeply committed to environmental stewardship. This isn't just a policy position - it runs through our community-led strategic plan and is visible in the partnerships we've already built: our collaboration with the Wildlife Trust and Brighton Permaculture Trust on the community garden and orchard; our support for the regenerative community farm at Old Salts; and, of course, the work that earned Lancing a Gold Medal for sustainability in the RHS South & South East in Bloom competition.
Lancing is blessed with extraordinary natural assets. The internationally rare Widewater Lagoon, the chalk grasslands of Lancing Ring, over three kilometres of coastline - the South Downs National Park is our back garden. But these assets need protecting, and they need all of us to play a part.
Today's film will be confronting. It won't shy away from the evidence. But I want you to know that, in this room and in this community, there are already people doing remarkable work.
After the film, we'll have a chance to come together and hear what struck a chord. Then I'd like to invite you into the Community Hub for tea, coffee and homemade cake - because no community conversation is complete without cake - where you'll find displays from some of the incredible local organisations working on sustainability and biodiversity right here in Lancing.
And that is really the heart of today. This isn't just about hearing the evidence. It's about discovering what's already happening in our village and finding your way into it.
So, let's watch, let's reflect, and let's see where the conversation takes us.
After the Film
When the credits rolled, there was a moment - the kind of moment every leader recognises - where a room full of people could have gone one of two ways. Overwhelmed and helpless. Or ready to act.
How you hold that moment matters.
I invited people to share what about the People's Emergency Briefing had most struck a chord. The conversation that followed was honest, practical, and grounded in what people had just seen. But it was also full of energy. Because the room already knew, from the introduction, that extraordinary things are happening in their own community. The evidence was heavy. But the response didn't have to be despair.
Then we moved through to the community hub. The local organisations working on regenerative farming, river restoration, marine conservation, tree planting, wildlife corridors, and community food growing had set up displays about their work. Over coffee and homemade cake, people stopped, asked questions, and signed up.
What I noticed was the shift. The film had been confronting. The evidence is heavy. But by the time people were standing in front of a display about the community garden that supplies the Foodbank, or talking to volunteers from the World of Widewater about how they’re protecting wildlife on the lagoon, or learning about the marine restoration work happening along our coastline - the energy in the room had changed. People weren't overwhelmed any more. They were connecting. They were finding ways in.
This is something I've learned as a leader - both in this role and in my years as a CEO. When people are faced with a challenge that feels too big to comprehend, the most useful thing you can do is make it local, make it concrete, and make it something they can act on. Not the whole problem. The part of the problem they can reach from where they're standing.
Why This Matters Beyond Lancing
I write about hope-centred strategy in the context of business and leadership. it's the methodology at the heart of The Purpose Company, and it's what I bring to every founder and leader I work with. But the same framework applies to community leadership.
A clear vision: stewardship and conservation at the heart of everything the Council does.
Ways forward that are concrete, local, and achievable: the community garden, the regenerative farm, the partnerships with conservation organisations.
And agency rebuilt through evidence - by showing people what's already being done in their own community, so they can see that their contribution will matter.
Whether you're leading a business, a team, or a community, the question is the same. When the people around you are facing something that feels overwhelming, are you helping them see what's possible? Or leaving them to sit with what feels impossible?
Saturday afternoon, in a Parish Hall on the Sussex coast, 120 people chose to show up to watch the People’s Emergency Briefing. They watched the evidence. They stayed for the conversation. And they left knowing what they could do.
That's hope-centred leadership in practice.
Further Resources
The People's Emergency Briefing - free screenings for communities across the UK
When Leadership Feels Like a Slog - and What to Do About It
Related
Strategic Hope: The Methodology at the Heart of The Purpose Company
Entrepreneurial Purpose: A Guide for Founders Building the Future They Want
Hope Theory: The Science Behind Hope-Centred Strategy
I work with purpose-led founders and leaders at every stage of growth. If this piece has resonated - and you'd like to explore what hope-centred leadership looks like for your business or your community - I'd welcome a conversation.
