Norwich Cathedral is joining churches across the country in ringing its bells on the eve of COP26, the United Nations Climate Conference in Glasgow. The Cathedral’s bells will ring at 6pm on Saturday 30 October as part of the nationwide Ring Out For Climate Change campaign.

Saturday 30 October is also the final day of Dippy on Tour at Norwich Cathedral and as part of the exhibition people have been asked to make their own personal pledges to help protect the planet and to hang these pledges on trees in the exhibition’s Reflection Zone. More than 9,000 pledges have been made and some of these will be taken to COP26 by the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher, who is attending the UN Climate Conference in his role as the Church of England’s lead for the environment.

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 Ring Out For Climate Change bell ringing campaign has been endorsed by the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher.

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.”

A prayer for COP26 has also been written by Norwich Cathedral’s Canon Precentor, the Revd Canon Aidan Platten:

God of creation,
we thank you for the wonderful world you have given us:
help us to see the world through your eyes,
and to work together to return the world
to a place where all life thrives;
where waters run clear and rain quenches the thirst of our crops;
where the wind brings freshness and changes of weather;
where ice holds back the floods;
where sun and moon continue to light up our lives,
and where the rainbow marks your promise of love
and holds us together in our diversity.
Amen.