COP26: Church bells ring out for climate change action

Historically, church bells were used to raise the alarm to communities in times of peril

Hundreds of church bells across the UK will ring out to call for urgent action on climate change on the eve of COP26.

Environmentalist Edward Gildea, from Saffron Walden in Essex, came up with the idea to use church bells to sound a warning to delegates in Glasgow.

St Paul's Cathedral and York Minster are among the churches taking part at 18:00 BST on Saturday.

"It is time for the church to speak out on climate change, it has this voice, why not use it?" said Mr Gildea.

"We are saying 'we care for God's creation, we are concerned about it, we are very passionate about the future we seem to be storing up for ourselves and need to change'."

The UN summit, which begins on Sunday, brings together 196 world leaders and an estimated 20,000 delegates to commit to a reduction in carbon emissions to avoid a climate emergency.

"It's an historic function [of church bells] to send a warning, because they used to be the best form of communication we had," Mr Gildea said.

"They were the loudest noise that might reach a few miles to warn of floods, fire or a shipwreck.

"With Ring Out For Climate Change, bellringers are able to express themselves, so it's giving people a voice as well as giving the church a voice."

He said he was "thrilled and humbled" at how his idea had taken off.

The Bishop of Norwich, the Right Reverend Graham Usher, is the Church of England's lead bishop on the environment and will join the delegation in Glasgow.

"Church bells have traditionally been rung through the centuries to raise the alarm for local communities," he said.

"The recent 'code red' report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an alarm call for us all."