You are invited to join with churches and bell ringers across our United Kingdom to send a national warning to the delegates of COP26 as the conference begins this Saturday. Bring a bell or anything that will make a noise to sent out this clarion call for action.

This edited article appeared in last week’s Church Times:

A CAMPAIGN is growing for church bells to ring out a “code-red warning to humanity” on the eve of the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow later this month.

“It’s what church bells have traditionally been used for, and the warning couldn’t be more urgent,” said the man behind the idea, Edward Gildea, the Eco Church team leader at St Mary’s, Saffron Walden, in Essex, and a climate-campaign organiser for Christian Aid. “The current threat is greater than the threat of invasion by the Armada, Napoleon, and Hitler rolled into one, as it is a global threat on a vast, possibly uncontrollable scale, in which the prime enemy is ourselves.”

He has contacted every diocese and every cathedral dean, asking them to join a 30-minute peal on 30 October. He has also set up a Facebook page: facebook.com/groups/ringoutforclimate.

His call has been backed by the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers, whose president, Simon Linford, said: “Many bell-ringers are planning to join in with ‘Ring out for Climate’, lending their powerful voice in support of efforts to halt climate change.”

“COP26 is a critical moment for the whole of creation, with decisions to be made that will affect whether people and nature have a chance of avoiding the worst effects of climate change; decisions that will have the greatest impact on the poorest and most vulnerable communities around the world.”

Here is a link to the entire article as it appeared in the Church Times. Please note that you do not have to subscribe in order to read the article.

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2021/22-october/news/uk/church-bell-ringers-urged-to-ring-out-a-code-red-warning-on-eve-of-cop26