FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Saturday 1st March 2025

Ahead of World Wildlife Day, 200 members of the Climate Choir Movement used their voices to call on the Church of England, one of the country’s largest landowners, to urgently address the dire state of their land

London: A 200-strong flash mob surprised visitors and churchgoers at St. Paul’s Cathedral (today Saturday 1st March) by delivering a musical message highlighting the vital role that the Church must play in restoring nature.

On Saturday, singers from the Climate Choir Movement, and members of the grassroots campaign group Wild Card, joined forces to call on the Church Commissioners, the investment body of the Church of England, to commit to rewilding 30% of their 105,000 acre estate by 2030.

The UK is in the bottom 10% of nations globally for biodiversity¹ and the Church Commissioners’ land is in a dire ecological state. Largely used for intensive farming, only 3% of the land is wooded, compared with the average of 10%², making it the lowest tree coverage of England’s top ten institutional landowners. 

Holding aloft images of native British species, Climate Choir members from across the UK gathered inside the iconic London landmark to sing a rousing reworked version of All Things Bright and Beautiful. The new lyrics challenged the Church to demonstrate greater consideration for wildlife.

Taking place ahead of the United Nations World Wildlife Day (March 3rd), the Climate Choir shone a spotlight on the poor state of nature in Britain and the role its biggest landowners need to play in turning this around. 

Wild Card’s campaign calling on the Church Commissioners to rewild their land has generated significant support in the last few months, with over 100,000 members of the public backing the call so far, and many senior church members and church groups calling for change.  The rallying cry for action comes as approval ratings for the Church of England plummet, with just 25% of Britons having a favourable view of the establishment.

In October, Wild Card held an event outside St. Paul’s Cathedral, in which TV presenter and conservationist, Chris Packham, unveiled a nine-metre long scroll containing a collection of powerful arguments detailing why the Church Commissioners should rewild some of their extensive landholdings. 

Contributions to the 95 Wild Theses (a twist on the original 95 Theses by Martin Luther that kick started the Protestant reformation) were gathered from nearly 100 leading public figures, including former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, former Secretary of State  Michael Gove, broadcaster, actor and writer Stephen Fry, former chair of the IPBES and IPCC Sir Robert T Watson, chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas. The Theses were delivered to the offices of the Church Commissioners and Lambeth Palace.

Speaking at the event, Wild Card Co-founder Hazel Draper said:

“Hearing the voices of the Climate Choir ring out in support of nature, in one of the world’s most recognisable places of worship, sends a clear message to the Church Commissioners that they must fulfil their moral obligation to protect all creatures great and small.

“The UK is signed up to the United Nations goal of restoring and protecting 30% of land and seas by 2030, but it cannot achieve this without action from the country’s largest landowners. This is where the Church can, and should, be showing leadership.”

Dave Mitchell, who sings with the choir and is a leading member of Christian Climate Action, said:

“As Christians we are called by God to care for and nurture all of God’s beautiful creation, the wonderful diversity of life we long to see. The Bible is clear about humanity’s role, we are to work in harmony with nature. However the UK is amongst the most nature depleted areas in the world. 

“The Church of England is one of the top ten landowners in the UK, therefore we have a clear God-given responsibility to rewild the vast areas of church land, to help restore nature back to the amazing diversity it was intended for.”

¹https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2021/october/analysis-warns-global-biodiversity-is-below-safe-limit.html

² https://friendsoftheearth.uk/nature/englands-10-biggest-landowners-must-grow-more-trees 

ENDS – 

NOTES TO EDITORS

CONTACT INFORMATION

For more information contact: 

WILD CARD: Heather Carswell: press@wildcard.land / 07815 741183

CLIMATE CHOIR MOVEMENT: Kimberly Price 07546 333837 Kai Honey Choir Director 07579 019056 

PHOTOS: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/978k44msjpn66wij6vcmu/ALdxRGUyO862AwJqne2uh54?rlkey=tl1ldrb4mvi0regrqogjazncy&st=be9ncu3n&dl=0

media@climatechoirmovement.org  @climatechoirs