Archbishop of York’s Message Following Visit to Blackburn Cathedral

Today, you can see the earth itself – God’s creation – suspended in the nave. This is Gaia, the world-famous artwork by Luke Jerram.

Looking at Gaia, you can see, as if from space, the vast forests that cover the land, the deep blue of the ocean, and the shining ice caps. Forest, waters and ice – the great lungs of the earth, that store up carbon, generate oxygen, and regulate global temperatures. The lungs that allow our planet to breathe.

Critical ecosystems – yet in critical condition. Deforestation, coral bleaching, plastic pollution, ice melts – with each passing day, the planet is finding it harder and harder to breathe.

This is why the Anglican Communion – through its Lungs of the Earth initiative – is calling on Anglicans worldwide, and the world’s leaders, to protect and restore these vital ecosystems. Doing this is not optional – it is essential.

While Gaia hangs in Blackburn, another copy is hanging in Belém, Brazil – the city where COP30, the UN Climate Change Conference, is meeting this month.

A delegation from the Anglican Communion will be there, carrying this urgent message: the world must protect and restore the lungs of the earth.

Gaia has been presented all over the globe, but I feel that when it hangs in a church, like in Blackburn, it takes on its fullest meaning. I’m reminded of the first verse of Psalm 24:

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”

This planet is not just a lump of matter, floating in the vastness space. It was made by God. It belongs to him.

And we are the stewards who have been charged with caring for it.

When seen in Blackburn Cathedral, Gaia rams home the message that the climate crisis is, at its root, a spiritual crisis. It comes from a belief that we are the owners of God’s earth, free to do with it as we please, rather than its stewards. This is a spiritual failure – a failure that is leading to environmental catastrophe.

A spiritual crisis requires a spiritual solution. We need to reimagine our relationship with creation, to act as good stewards, honouring the Creator by caring for his creation. Though the decisions and promises made at COP30 will be invaluable, the work of protecting the lungs of the earth begins in every community, in every parish – through prayer, and through action.

I encourage us all to pray for COP30:

But let us be moved by our prayer to action. Churches across the country are setting out on their own net-zero journeys – Blackburn Cathedral is pushing for its next Eco Church accreditation, and parish churches like St Margaret’s, Aislaby, in the Diocese of York, have earned a rare gold accreditation – and we all need to join them, if the lungs of the earth are able to breathe freely once again.