Chichester Cathedral to Ring Out for Climate Change

The Ring Out For Climate Change campaign is being led by Edward Gildea, a Christian Aid climate campaign organiser from Essex who is asking churches to ring their bells from 6pm onwards, on Saturday October 30, as a warning of the climate emergency and to mark the start of the conference.

The Dean of Chichester, the Very Reverend Stephen Waine, said: “As we host Luke Jerram’s Museum of the Moon at Chichester Cathedral, we are reminded of how important it is that we care for our planet.

“Just as the Moon’s gravitational pull creates the tides of the oceans, it also generates more moisture in the soil, encouraging plant growth.

“As moonlight increases - going from New Moon to Full Moon- it stimulates leaf growth, and in turn flowers move and grow. We must all play our part in protecting our delicate and beautiful environment.”

The UN Climate Conference, CoP26, will see 196 world leaders and an expected 20,000 delegates meet in Glasgow and work together to commit to a reduction in emissions to avoid a climate emergency.

“It comes just months after the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change described global warming as a “code red for humanity”.

The bell ringing campaign has already been endorsed by the Bishop of Norwich, the Right Reverend Graham Usher, the Church of England’s lead Bishop on the environment, who will join the delegation in Glasgow. He said: “Church bells have traditionally been rung through the centuries to raise the alarm for local communities. The recent “code red” report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an alarm call for us all.

“I am happy to endorse a nationwide “ring out for climate change” on the eve of the COP26 as a symbol of warning, but also of hope, that this conference will lead to action for us all, like Jesus, to tread more gently on our single island planet home and care more for those already adversely affected by climate change, especially in the economically poorest places on earth”.