[The Episcopal News] The Education Committee of the Bishop’s Commission on Climate Change for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles has proposed that Earth Day 2024 be commemorated with the first annual “Ring Out for Earth.”
The committee invites every parish, mission, school, and institution within the six-county diocese to ring bells, pray or meditate for 425 seconds (7:08) on Sunday, April 21 at church or Monday, April 22 at home as a call for the urgent need to care for God’s creation as the global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration has reached 425 parts per million (ppm) as measured by the Keeling Curve; a level unprecedented in all of human history. CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels is the human-caused pollution responsible for blanketing and warming the planet.
“Mobilizing the 55,000 member-strong diocese to pause and pay attention together for 425 seconds as a symbolic alert of the ever-rising CO2 level that is harming us will be a powerful and unifying demonstration of Episcopal love-in-action,” according to the committee’s announcement. “Throughout history, the ringing of church bells has alerted communities not c to important events but also the cause for alarm. With the evidence of a changing climate all around us, and the impacts being felt most profoundly by those who have the least, the moment for an all call is now.
“By ringing our church bells in alarm and moving as an Episcopal community in prayer, meditation, and action, our diocese is responding to a statement adopted by the House of Bishops during the 80th General Convention in 2022: “Confronting climate change and environmental degradation has never been more urgent. As members of The Episcopal Church, we are committed in baptism to resist evil, seek God’s will, treat all people with dignity, and strive for justice and peace. Living into these promises, we must face the climate crisis for the sake of love of God and neighbor … We, God’s faithful, are called to share the hope that will empower change.”
A Ring Out for Earth action plan is here.