It’s because some of the world’s most vulnerable people are caught in a growing spiral of misery that the climate talks in Paris matter.

The dreadful events that saw innocent people in Paris, Beirut and other citieskilled and maimed recently, should only stiffen our resolve to find proper solutions – solutions that deliver those most at risk from the worst effects of an already changing climate.

It’s as much about justice as it is about the environment.

But even though the backdrop for the Paris climate summit has changed so dramatically, the substance is the same, and we know the pledges of governments don’t add up to a climate-saving agreement.

We also know that in the recent past, similar summits have failed.

So why does the Paris summit matter? And why is it important we don’t just leave it to the politicians? Here are 5 reasons.

1. We cannot stop climate change one nation at a time

The atmosphere we’re polluting with industrial emissions does not respect boundaries. And the climate system we are disrupting is indiscriminate.

So this is a global problem that really requires a global solution.

International talks under the UN are slow, but without them it would be hard to envisage any coordinated progress.

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2. The best chance of a fair solution

We may all be equals before the environment, but when it comes to the effects of climate change – more frequent and more intense floods, droughts, heatwaves, tropical storms – some are more equal than others.

Those that are the hardest hit, in sub-Saharan African nations, south and east Asia and Latin America, have in general contributed the least to the problem and are poorer

That’s not to say you should feel guilty if you live in a part of the world where the climate is more stable and which has put more climate pollution into the atmosphere.

But it does mean we can and must do more to solve the problem.

And the best way to make solutions fair is an international framework in which the way fairness is worked out is clear, transparent and legally enforceable.

3. Climate change in the spotlight

Climate change is a bit like the washing up: until you actually need a clean mug or fork it’s tempting to put off the washing up.

But put off tackling climate change until the effects of inaction are visible to everyone, and it will almost certainly be too late.

If we are to stop the climate changing even more than at present, we need to act fast, now, and with a decisiveness that’s seldom seen outside of warzones

Making our leaders stand in front of the world’s media to confront the climate issue helps to keep up the pressure.

More than 3,000 journalists are expected for the Paris talks. Enough said.

4. People can say they want politicians to do more

While we’ve got the attention of world leaders and the thousands of  journalists expected in Paris, we’d be mad not to try and make a big statement.

So along with organisations such as Avaaz, Oxfam, The Muslim Climate Coalition and the Women’s Institute, we’re bringing people together for a march in London that we expect will be the biggest ever UK event on climate change.

Others are doing the same in their cities across the world. And in Paris there will be events most days during the talks.

When it comes to tackling climate change, people are ahead of the politicians

Across the UK, ordinary people of all political persuasions, cultures, religions and backgrounds are coming together to transform the places in which they live.

They are installing solar power, ensuring homes in which more vulnerable people live are properly insulated.

They’re resisting fracking and new coalmines and clubbing together to use electric vehicles.

Paris is a moment where we can point to all of this and shame our political classes who so often put the interests of yesterday’s polluters ahead of tomorrow’s citizens.

5 Paris is neither the end nor the beginning of the end

In 1942 Churchill coined his famous end of the beginning phrase.

And that is perhaps where we are in the fight against climate change.

Because we’ve seen all this international summitry before… because we’ve marched up mountains only to have to plod back down them… because we are not going to bet the planet on the promises of our politicians … we know that Paris will not mark the end or even the beginning of the end.

Talking, negotiating and promising does matter. But doing things matters more. So after Paris, rather than feeling pleased that leaders exceeded our expectations or disappointed that they didn’t, each of us needs to know what we’re going to do next.

When the motorcades have swept away from Paris, actually stopping climate change falls to nations and that’s where our battles must be won, from opposing fracking to taking our pensions out of fossil fuels.

It’s important that cities like Paris play host to those necessary global moments. But the fight against climate change is the greatest humanity has faced.

So if we’re successful then it will be because the right things happened in every village, town and city everywhere.

Andrew Pendleton is Head of Campaigns at Friends of the Earth