It's a British tradition to start conversations by talking about the weather. Lately, we've had plenty to talk about. The heatwaves are leaving the land parched and people wilting. Older people and those with long-term health conditions are finding the heat particularly challenging (please check in on your neighbours). Hospitals are experiencing pressures they normally associate with winter. Farmers are struggling to water livestock and crops. The emergency services are preparing for another difficult wildfire season.

But it’s not so long ago we were talking about rainstorms. We can still see the effects of November’s devastating floods in the empty homes and shops being repaired in Monmouth. Residents of Skenfrith are reeling after the fourth major flood in six years.

These no longer feel like once-in-a-generation events. They're becoming part of our lives. So why do we still talk about them as isolated incidents, rather than part of a long-term trend that's reshaping our future?

We prepare the public for pandemics. We brief people about severe weather. We warn communities about flooding. So why have so few of us ever been properly briefed about what climate and nature change means for the country over the next twenty or thirty years?

I recently attended community screenings in Skenfrith and Cross Ash of the People’s Emergency Briefingi. The film is based on the National Emergency Briefing given by leading scientists and experts to politicians, business leaders and faith leaders at Westminster last year.

What struck me wasn't that I heard lots of things I'd never known before. It was that experts from different disciplines—health, food, economics, national security and climate science—were all describing the same emergency from different perspectives. It felt less like watching a documentary and more like attending a public briefing that perhaps all of us should have had already.

By 2050, one in four properties will be at risk of flooding. Nearly 3,000 people in England died from heat in 2022—more than died in road traffic accidents. Britain has already experienced three of its five worst cereal harvests on record this decade. Meanwhile, one in six UK species faces extinction.

Most worrying is that many of the changes scientists warned about are arriving sooner, and proving more severe, than expected. They also warn that if the planet crosses key tipping points—such as major changes to the Gulf Stream—the consequences for our climate, food production and economy could be profound.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. There are plenty of things we can do as individuals and communities to reduce our carbon emissions and increase our resilience. But it’s only governments that can take the scale of action that is needed.

If these risks are serious enough to brief politicians and business leaders, shouldn't the rest of us hear the same evidence? Surely every citizen deserves to understand the challenges our children and grandchildren may face.

When does unusual become normal? Perhaps we're closer to that point than we'd like to admit. As Professor Mike Berners-Lee quoted James Baldwin: "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced."