Dame Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry have urged Dame Sarah Mullally to prioritise wildlife, when she is installed as Archbishop of Canterbury in March.
Along with clergy, church members and climate activists from the group Wild Card, conservationist Chris Packham carried a model of Noah’s ark to the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral, with a banner reading: “Nature needs a new ark.”
Wild Card’s petition to Sarah Mullally has reached 130,000 signatures.
Emma Thompson said: “With the Church's first female leader, I am hopeful that she will also be the first to truly lead on behalf of all creation."
“Humans like to think of themselves as apart from nature. It has become clear to most of us that this is not the case," the Oscar-winning actress said. "We are as much a part of nature as any other living creature. I implore the new Archbishop to make a determined commitment to rewilding and try to help British wildlife to recover."
The group are emphasising the Church’s responsibility to the climate, as the Church Commissioners are responsible for around 200,000 acres, making the Church one of Britain’s largest landowners. The Church’s land ranges from agricultural pastures, to urban buildings and community centres, and even the Metrocentre shopping mall in Gateshead.
Mullally has not yet made a statement on the Church’s land use, but has expressed a desire to mitigate climate change in her public health work as the Bishop of London.
In 2021, she told City of London School for Girls that she was passionate about improving London’s biodiversity and air quality.
“If we think of humanity as a family, and work towards a future based on our common good, we could find ourselves living in a very different world,” Mullally said.