The effects have been felt across our communities. Several schools in Staffordshire were forced to close or finish early as temperatures soared, while hospitals in Stoke and Stafford had to postpone operations after extreme heat affected MRI scanners and operating theatres.

At the very moment that the impacts of climate change are becoming impossible to ignore, political commitment to tackling it appears to be wavering. Following May's local elections, several Reform-led councils have begun rolling back climate commitments, with Newcastle Borough Council reportedly considering the withdrawal of its Climate Emergency Declaration.

This retreat is not confined to local government. Earlier this week, a coalition of 80 leading conservation organisations, businesses, scientists and landowners wrote to the likely future Prime Minister, Andy Burnham MP, calling for an urgent reset of the Government's approach to nature recovery. The letter reflected growing concern that progress made in recent years is now being weakened just when the challenges we face demand greater ambition and urgency.

Across the political spectrum, commitment to addressing climate change and restoring nature appears increasingly fragile. Faced with stretched public finances, pressure on local authority budgets and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, some have concluded that environmental action is a luxury we can no longer afford.

Whatever our political views, there is a growing body of evidence showing that we are facing a national resilience crisis. The UK's Joint Intelligence Committee has warned that the ecosystems upon which we depend are under severe pressure, with potentially profound consequences for food security, economic stability and public wellbeing.

The warning signs are already around us. Three of the five worst harvests on record in England have occurred since 2020. Climate-related impacts added an estimated £360 to average household food bills during 2022 and 2023. More than 6 million properties are now at risk of flooding, while extreme heat is estimated to cost the NHS billions of pounds every year.

In difficult times, it can be tempting to look for a convenient scapegoat — to identify an issue that can be portrayed as expendable in the pursuit of economic growth or fiscal stability. But that is a dangerous path. The costs of inaction do not disappear; they are simply passed on to future generations, along with a growing environmental debt that will be far more expensive to repay.

We must not allow short-term political pressures to distract us from the long-term challenges we know we face. We need to continue reducing carbon emissions, cutting waste, protecting wildlife and restoring the natural systems that support our economy, our health and our quality of life.

In the words of Rudyard Kipling, we must strive to "keep your head when all about you are losing theirs". At a time when environmental progress is being questioned in some quarters, calm determination may be more important than ever.