How do the warming stripes start conversations about climate change? #ShowYourStripes
They are stark visuals which, with a single glance, instantly communicate the simple message that the climate is heating up.
Their strength is the innovative ways that people have adapted them.
At London Fashion Week, @HouseOfTammam put on a catwalk show with dresses, accessories and a cape with the stripes as a theme, reaching a new audience and winning awards for sustainability engagement.
The rock band @ENTERSHIKARI used the warming stripes to start climate conversations with music fans during a sell-out festival tour.
Another audience was reached by @NetZeroMN who wrapped his @Tesla in Warming Stripes. This design started more climate conversations in a few days than the rest of his life put together!
Importantly, the graphic causes people to ask questions: 'what have you done to your car?'.
Reaching broad audiences through newspapers, magazines and other media #ShowYourStripes
And, innovative light shows communicating to yet another type of audience and starting more conversations. #ShowYourStripes
At the centre of the groups using the Warming Stripes has always been the TV weather forecaster community, led by @WeatherProf. These trusted voices are an important way that millions of people hear information about how our climate is changing.
The warming stripes have also been used prominently by those campaigning for more rapid action, consistent with the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise. #ShowYourStripes
And, today, cyclists from @ClimateClassic are cycling along the 1m elevation line in the Netherlands to highlight the risks from sea level rise.
Buildings and walls have been painted from Spain to Scotland to Jersey to Puerto Rico, amongst many others. #ShowYourStripes
In Leipzig, a crowd funded effort to paint the Sachsen Bridge has created a version of the Warming Stripes that is visible from space! #ShowYourStripes
When it is published in October this year, @GretaThunberg's new book on the climate & ecological crises will have the Warming Stripes on the cover, bringing the #ShowYourStripes graphics to a new audience.
And this use of the graphics as a book cover has a nice link back to the first time I talked about the Warming Stripes at @hayfestival in 2018 at an event with the author @nicolakidsbooks about communicating climate change.
The stripes on the screen are for the town of Hay.
So many other novel & creative ways that people have adapted the warming stripes concept. Wrapping street posts, blowing beautiful glass vases (@CathrynShilling), decorating a shower cubicle and even a snowboard! #ShowYourStripes
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With current discussions in the UK about net-zero it is worth remembering that there is already a fair strategy to reach net-zero, agreed by a group of citizens representing the full range of people's values, views & experiences.
The UK Climate Assembly. 🧵climateassembly.uk
In early 2020, a representative group of UK citizens gathered over several weekends to discuss ways of reaching net-zero that could be broadly agreed on.
I was a minor participant, giving a 10min overview of climate science & answering questions from the assembly.
At the core of the agreed plans was a joined-up approach across society:
- Education & information is essential
- Fairness for all
- Freedom & choice where possible
- Take advantage of co-benefits
- Protect & restore the natural environment
- Strong & clear leadership
Yesterday the IPCC 6th Assessment published its Synthesis Report (SYR) which included this graphic (SYR.1c) which has been a popular way to discuss future warming in the context of different generations.
What were the inspirations for this graphic?
A thread... 🧵
Within the formal IPCC process there are (at least) two other relevant figures from the WGI report.
From the Technical Summary, Figure TS.6 used a similar concept but focussed the future projections component on communicating the time of reaching different global warming levels.
As an aside, here is Figure SYR.2 which also borrows some concepts from WGI TS.6 to discuss impacts at different global warming levels.
We are already experiencing the consequences of our warming world & are now at a climate crossroads.
The choices we make now will determine the future experiences of those already alive, and those yet to be born.
If we choose not to act,
Or fail to adapt,
Then suffer we will.
And, to everyone who thought the 'warming stripes' were just a gimmick, here they are used in the IPCC Synthesis Report Summary for Policymakers. They are an effective communication tool to start the critical climate conversations we all need to have. ShowYourStripes.info
The IPCC Synthesis Report highlights the severe risks that we face, but also that we have many of the solutions to tackling climate change, and that there are enormous benefits from cutting emissions. ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/
The Warming Stripes are a popular visual way of highlighting the observed rise in global temperatures since 1850. #ShowYourStripes
But, the concept can also be used in different ways for different purposes... a thread🧵
For those who want numbers and a timeline to go along with the stripes...
For those who want a longer timescale...
(This version uses the @PAGES_IPO proxy-based global temperature data for years 1-2000 and the observations for 2001-2022.)
"The data from 2022 is stark, however you look at it. Whether you view the raw figures, or look at the data as another red line added to the climate stripes, the message is clear. Excess heat is building up across the planet at a rate unprecedented in the history of humanity."
"The latest stripe added is the second-darkest red, but is very close to being in the darkest red category. This is remarkable, given that La Nina has helped to hold temperatures down. When we see a return of a warming phase of El Nino, the darkest red stripes will return."
Why are we still building housing developments with gas for heating, no solar panels on roofs and no cycling infrastructure?
This provoked a LOT of discussion!
Focussing on UK, there will be no gas boilers in newly built homes after 2025. Positive step but could have come much earlier & has locked-in expensive retrofitting. Heat pumps rather than hydrogen boilers are planned solution for most homes.
And, many commenters added other issues that could be improved in new housing developments: harvesting rainwater, improved biodiversity, avoiding floodplains, community infrastructure... would all need more regulations & joined-up planning.