#ShowYourStripes: Be part of global climate change movement

#ShowYourStripes Day – 21 June 2022

Thousands of people around the world will again unite against climate change by sharing a striking climate change visualisation on Tuesday 21 June.

The climate stripes infographic, created by Professor Ed Hawkins at the University of Reading, display rising annual temperatures in one clear image. Television meteorologists, major organisations and people all over the world have shared the stripes on social media or displayed them in inventive ways on the summer solstice for the past three years.

Hundreds of versions showing warming in countries and states around the world can be downloaded for free from ShowYourStripes.info, allowing people worldwide to see and share how climate change is affecting where they live.

Professor Hawkins said: “The climate stripes show clearly how the world is heating up. What they will look like in the future depends entirely on our choices. The decisions we make now will be crucial to curbing the dramatic temperature rise seen across the world in recent decades.

“The aim of the climate stripes is to start conversations and bring climate science to new audiences. I am constantly amazed by the inventive ways that people use to adopt the stripes and hope they help bring climate action to the front of people’s minds once again this year.”

The climate stripes use bands of colour to show how temperatures in all corners of the world have risen dramatically in recent years. Shades of red are used to denote years that were hotter than the average for the period, and blues to indicate cooler years. They reveal a dramatic rise in temperatures in recent decades.

The climate stripes were created in 2018 and were made available for the public to download for free in summer 2019. More than a million people did so in the first week after they went live.

Accompanied by the hashtag #ShowYourStripes, the stripes have been shared on social media by the likes of Greta Thunberg – whose new book on climate change due will feature a bespoke version of the stripes on its cover – the UN and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and on global television channels.

They have also been adopted in countless ways, including on badges worn by US senators, displayed 10 metres tall on the Main Stage at Reading Festival, inspiring a range of clothing launched at London Fashion Week and even painted on a Tesla.

The University of Reading is a world-leading centre for meteorological research and education. It was recently awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for work to tackle climate change impacts.

The University is calling on its local and global community to unite on #ShowYourStripes Day to raise awareness of this huge issue. Follow activities on the day using the hashtag #ShowYourStripes and on @UniofReading and @Ed_Hawkins.

Find out more about the University’s work on climate action and sustainability, including partnering with the UK Government to transform climate education, at reading.ac.uk/planet