AMHERST - This Sunday at noon, the bell at Grace Episcopal Church will toll 350 times to call attention to climate change and its spiritual and moral dimensions.

That number is the goal for parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, said the Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, priest associate at the church. While the concentration was 280 parts per million before industrialization, it is now 387 and climbing, she said.

Stabilization of the climate by reducing carbon emissions is a contemporary mission with ancient roots in the Book of Genesis, Bullitt-Jonas said.

"The great challenge and opportunity is for human beings to awaken to our God-given responsibility to protect life as best we can on the planet," she said.

At least 40 Episcopal churches and 40 United Church of Christ congregations in Massachusetts have tolled their bells 350 times or plan to do so. First Congregational Churches in Amherst and Hadley will join the effort Dec. 7, and First Church in Sunderland Dec. 8; children at All Saints Church in South Hadley will toll the bell 350 times on Nov. 29, and St. John's in Northampton and St. Philip's in Easthampton are planning similar events.

"It's a spiritual issue in the sense that for many the beauty of the natural world is how we perceive the divine," Bullitt-Jonas said. "We encounter God in the beauty of the oceans and forests and lakes, and when weather patterns are screwed up and seasons are out of sync, it throws it all into turmoil and we lose our connection with God."

There's also a moral dimension to climate change because the poor will be most vulnerable to its effects, such as droughts and floods, she said.

A tolling church bell is traditionally how people are called to worship and remembered after funerals, said Bullitt-Jonas, who lives in Northampton. On April 18, 1775, at Old North Church in Boston, a sexton hung lanterns to warn colonists of a British troop movement.

"We see this action as being in line with that," she said. "We, too, want to sound an alarm in steeples around New England. God knows we need a revolution in this economy."

Climate change means not only warming of the planet but also shifting weather patterns, perhaps contributing to the fires in California this week, Bullitt-Jonas said. A monastery she has visited near Santa Barbara recently burned to the ground, she said.

"We have a wonderful opportunity with a new president and Congress to let them know that dealing quickly and effectively with the climate crisis is a top priority for Americans, and we won't settle for half-measures," she said.

The idea of ringing church bells 350 times came from author/activist Bill McKibben, who will be a speaker along with Bullitt-Jonas and Tina Clarke, of Amherst, at the New England Religious Summit on Energy, Climate and Economic Crisis this Thursday in Framingham.

On Sunday at Grace Church, children will take turns pulling the bell rope, and a "350" banner will hang from the steeple.

On Dec. 7 at First Congregational Church of Hadley, World War II veterans may join in pulling the bell rope around 11:15 p.m. in recognition that it is also the 67th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, said member Fred Oakley, who joined the Navy in 1943.

"We're constantly attempting to get people aware of the environmental consequences of our lives, how we dispose of trash, how we use our motor vehicles and other activities that are not conducive to good environmental practices," Oakley said.

At First Congregational Church of Amherst, the tolling will take place at noon Dec. 7. That's the second Sunday of Advent, "in which we talk about hope and preparation for new ways God can come into our world," said the Rev. Vicki Kemper, the pastor.

"I think this action is entirely in tune with this," she said. "We believe we have to make a difference, and that's part of our faithfulness to our creator and the debt we owe the future. It's also saying to the world that we're not giving up."

Nick Grabbe can be reached at ngrabbe@gazettenet.com.