10:30am – 13:30pm at 7 Crown St, Brentwood CM14 4BA
Our guest for Saturday 29th August will be Debbie Lee, a local resident and also the Waste Minimisation Officer for the London Borough of Havering. Debbie will share her experiences and knowledge on home composting. She will highlight the health and environmental benefits along with the pros and cons of many of different compost containers/systems and to advise what can and can’t go into a compost bin.
Debbie will speak from about 11am, but there is plenty of time to talk and discuss our own issues.
To celebrate our 5th Anniversary, we a having a picnic on Shenfield Common.
Starting near the pond at 12 noon.
So bring some food, drink and either a blanket or a deckchair or two and join in the celebrations! If the weather turns out to be stormy or wet, we will meet instead at 7 Crown Street, Brentwood CM14 4BA and will inform members by email.
This is planned for members only, if you’d like to come join the party please see our contact page.
It is envisaged that a letter-writing gathering, occasionally, would be an effective way to protest/applaud on a very accessible level. Anyone can suggest a cause for others to support. As a social gathering too, it is hard to beat.
This has been brought about by the many fascinating talks we have had each month over the last year, with speakers encouraging us to support their causes, both local and nationwide. This is the best way we can think of helping them. Hopefully, by the end of the session we will have a list for anyone to pursue in their own time. We will include these on our website with possible templates.
Get your list going and meet us at one, or both, of the following sessions:
Wednesday 5th August at 12 noon, Brentwood Library
Thursday 6th August 6pm, The Climate Café, 7 Crown Street
On a glorious sunny afternoon in June the BCA took part in Brentwood’s annual Strawberry Fair. There were hundreds of people in attendance throughout the day, of which many came to see us at our stall.
This year we had plenty of activities on offer. These included a Tree of Pledges, a Climate Meter, a Puppet Show and a free recipe for a chemical-free easy Toilet Cleaner (which had been tried and well tested by its author!)
We attracted many visitors, both young and old, to engage in thinking about their place and roles within the wider context of climate change and to help them decide in what areas or activities they could change within their own lives and/or communities.
As an organisation, it was very heartening to see that many children of all ages had, through education, a solid notion of what climate change is, of what it means and what as individuals, we can do about it.
Overall, we welcomed seven new members. The Tree amounted to 62 pledges to help the environment. The Climate Meter attracted 82 respondents. The Puppet Show ran twice, each to an audience of interested children and to finish, countless families will have spotless toilets without harming the climate, flora or fauna. Job Done! I would say!
The Climate Meter
The Tree of Pledges
The BCA stall
The BCA would like to thank all those who helped out, volunteering their time, expertise and skills on what was a very successful engagement with the wider public and the issues that we stand up for. We hope that we have managed to get many people to think about the Climate Crises, and what it truly means.
On Friday 19th June 2026, Brentwood Climate Action opened its doors to both members and interested parties, to view the screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing. This film featured scientists of many differing disciplines, coming together with evidence and proof that our climate is in severe crises.
The film was presented by Chris Packham, who invariably throughout the different topics being discussed, would turn to a variety of guests who were viewing the film in a studio and then comment on what they had just heard and seen.
The film highlighted nine topics of major concern: Weather, Climate, Tipping Points, Food Security, Health, Nature, Economics and Energy Transitions.
There were many interesting facts revealed throughout the film, many shocking, but also many ideas of how we as a species can do things differently, all we need to do is get the policy makers and the political will into those who govern us.
Also, during the broadcast a lot of myths that most have taken as fact were debunked, these included:
Cost: It would actually save our economy rather than cost it to implement environmental policies discussed in every topic covered by the film and as green technology advances, it will cost even less in the future.
Reclaiming our arable farmland for crops rather than feeding the meat industry. Therefore consuming a plant rich diet will have the added knock-on effect of tackling the obesity crises and our health as a nation would be greatly improved.
Another area of concern are our declining numbers of insect pollinators of which arable farming is totally dependent on. We need to focus on returning our country into a species rich environment, of which we will all benefit from.
Flooding, a direct result of climate change, is now irreversible, so we have to deal with how we tackle it. However, there are cities and towns who have developed new technological infrastructure which basically act like sponges, located deep underground the buildings and streets. Even now, there are many task force trained workers, scientists, engineers, etc ready and waiting to take vital jobs and posts within the renewables and green infrastructure industries.
It has also been shown that 85% of our population want some serious solutions to addressing climate issues, but the government is not supporting what the majority of the public are calling for.
The film ended with a call for action that we can all be a part of:
1 Spread the word
2 Join others near you for community projects
3 Put pressure on the government eg lobbying
4 Address and hold to account the imbalance between Oil Companies and the environment
5 Call for NEB to be shown across all TV networks.
To finish, the filmmakers expressly require the group to discuss the topics raised in the film, which is indeed what we did, after the viewing.
There were two main reactions that presented themselves from our audience with the following comments:
Firstly there was a strong sense of Hopelessness, including:
We’re walking into Armageddon.
The saddened quote said by one of the scientists taken from the film, telling his young son, “at least I tried…”
Also, with added sense of inequality: We are governed by huge corporations more so than parliament, and: Giant oil companies can put huge finances into lobbying.
Followed by: We feel our individual voices are not represented in government.
And from those who have tried: Constantly feeling the strong tide of political push back.
And ending with poor political decisions: The Labour Government shelved the ‘National Security Climate Report’, and the ill-thought policy: Disappointing that our government has Climate and Environment as a separate department rather than it be covered as a part of every department and be incorporated as the emergency that it is.
However, as the evening wore on the mood did change to reveal some very Positive arguments including:
More domestic use of green energy and having a sense of empowerment to try other forms of renewables.
To engage with and support local ideas and initiatives, e.g. wild urban spaces projects, the solar farm proposed for Shenfield, to name just a couple.
To realise the power of positive lobbying, which is no less powerful and just as important as negative lobbying; showing your support for initiatives, balancing the negative support with positive support.
Evidence that industry is supporting green technologies as the way forward, with Trade Unions already producing a booklet: ‘Green Jobs’, (please visit https://www.cacctu.org.uk ,courtesy of Steve) for its respective members.
And of course, having firm evidence that it can be achieved:-
China, over a short period of time, has halved its C02 emissions – we may not agree with China’s political landscape but for this area they have proved to the world that it can be done.
There were also many comments about the film itself:
Many found the film personable and likeable in its approach.
Several comments were made about finding it more helpful to view with a group rather than if it was viewed alone. Others said that it presented many ideas for solutions, but some felt that they didn’t think they were all do-able.
This film has now been screened and viewed by over 2,500 small groups/organisations across the UK and even by some abroad, too.
There was, however, a strong feeling felt by many, that the film missed out a lot of topics that they felt could have been addressed e.g. aviation and shipping in particular.
A special thank you to Jonathan and Jacqueline for hosting tonight’s film screening. A big thank you to all who took part and especially Cllr David Worsfold, who was able to explain a lot of the machinations of our local council. Also, a big thank you goes to Prof. Jules Pretty OBE and his work in compiling the ‘Thirty for 30’ leaflets: one for reducing Carbon emissions and the other for Nature Recovery, which when used as a tool, give us all hope for the future, in these very uncertain times.
10:30am – 13:30pm at 7 Crown St, Brentwood CM14 4BA
Philip Holland presented a talk:
‘Is humanity drinking in the ‘Last Chance Lagoon?’
Philip told us that while water is the foundation of all life on Earth, availability is finite with less than 1% of freshwater easily accessible in lakes, rivers and shallow aquifers. People have proved to be inefficient water users and have over-exploited long-term stores. There is a wealth of very concerning evidence about water bankruptcy but there are also initiatives being employed to protect this precious resource and we were shown how some nations are undertaking these measures and also the changes we can and must make at home to reduce our water usage and so contribute to increasing biodiversity and climate resilience.
We are hosting and screening this film as a public Information briefing which is being shown in small venues around the UK.
“The climate & nature crisis threatens all aspects of British life from national security to food supply, but solutions exist.
The National Emergency Briefing was commissioned to present the latest evidence, and build an irresistible call for the Government to stage a televised emergency briefing, the essential first step towards the WW2-scale response now required.”
