Climate Change and Copenhagen Bells

In December of 2009 our little Anglican Church bells were tolled three hundred and fifty times in support of the Copenhagen Conference of the world on climate change. It was acknowledged then, that global warming pollution and wildlife extinction were the defining issue of our lifetimes. Other churches chimed in but we had the only bell tower so bell ringers from near and far in the community at large including children came to ring with us. All participated. This was a World Council of Churches initiative.
 When one thinks of John Donne (1572-1631) , his poem tells us we are all one.
    No man is an island,
    Entire of itself,
    Every man is a piece of the continent,
    A part of the main.
    If a clod be washed away by the sea,
    Europe is the less.
     As well as if a promontory were,
     As well a if a manor of thy friend's
     Or of thine own were:
     Any man's death diminishes me,
     Because I am involved in mankind,
     And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
     It tolls for thee.
The meditation is as gripping now as it was then. That reflection makes me think of the exchange between Scrooge and the ghost of Jacob Marley.  (Scrooge)---"But you were always a good man of business Jacob!" (Marley)--"-Business, Mankind was my business! The common welfare was my business: charity.
, mercy, forbearance and benevolence. "  It's no accident that the awakening  of Scrooge was occasioned by the striking of the heavy bells. He remained awake. The pianist observed to me that the bell is the archetypal marker that always has and always will signal us to awake.