Clifton Cathedral clocks on for Earth Hour

Earth Hour encourages everyone around the world to turn their lights and showing support for global action on climate change. It takes place at 8.30 pm on Saturday 28 March. Clifton Cathedral in Bristol is looking forward to Earth Hour with a candlelit hour of reflection, devotion and love for creation on Tuesday 24 March at 7.30pm.

Mary Colwell a Cathedral parishioner who's passionate about caring for God's creation has organised the Cathedral's Earth Hour event. She is the an award-winning TV and radio producer specialising in the environment and faith, and the inspiration behind Clifton Cathedral's renowned 'Sound of Many Waters' - which explored the connections between the natural world and the Catholic faith.

She said: "Earth Hour is a great opportunity for people to show they care about the future of our home - earth.

"It will act as a world-wide statement of hope for the future because now, more than any other time in history, are we being asked to consider how many resources we use, how much we waste, how much we own but don't need and how much strain we are putting on the earth's abundance.

"But of course this isn't just about the environment, it is about people too. We can't separate out human justice and dignity from the goods and services the natural world provides. Twenty per cent of the world's population use eight per cent of the world's resources, which means many people are living poor, undignified lives that are often threatened by violence and injustice.

"Earth Hour gives us in the Clifton Diocese an opportunity to think about those in other parts of the world who are suffering because of how we use the earth. We think particularly of our priest Father Leo Dolan in the Brazilian province of Rondonia where poor people are being attacked and abused because just because they want to claim their legally-entitled land on which to live.

"Earth Hour is a call not only to the stereotypical 'greenies'. It is a call to all of us Catholics who belong not just to a diocese - the local Church - but to a huge global family of believers. Catholicism is a world-wide faith that has influence in almost every part of the earth. We have to act as a family and stand in solidarity again all forms of injustice and wrong-doing whether that injustice is being done to the earth, to individuals or to whole communities. Earth Hour is a call to all people of faith to show in a simple but effective way what it means to care and put that care into action.

"Earth Hour is a worldwide event asking people to turn their lights off to highlight how much energy we use and how we have to think about climate change and our use of resources. Clifton Cathedral and our Cathedral Dean Canon Alan Finley is supporting this by holding our own low energy service - so please come and support us on Tuesday 24 March. We will celebrate a candlelit service looking forward to Earth Hour. We will have an hour of gentle reflection with music and prayer. That will be followed by a candlelit glass of wine or cup of tea. If you'd like to bring along candles you might use on Saturday 28 March to be blessed then please do so. Everybody is welcome."

For more information see: www.cliftondiocese.com