THE UNIVERSITY of Reading is encouraging climate conciousness and further engagement on environmental issues for Show Your Stripes Day 2024.
The day, set to take place on Friday, June 21, is named after the climate stripes visualisation created by the university’s Professor Ed Hawkins.
The stripes depict the average temperature around the world using colour, with shades of blue representing colder years and shades of red to represent hotter years.
The tendency towards red stripes in the more recent end of the graphic visually represents the rising global temperature, with the graphic coming to represent the rapid rate of global warming.
Now the stripes are set to appear around the world once again, including on landmarks and online.
Professor Hawkins published the first update of the graphic with interim data for 2023, after the Met Office confirmed it would be the hottest on record for parts of the UK
Last year was the second hottest for the UK as a whole, and the hottest ever seen in Wales and Northern Ireland.
This means that the darkest shade of red used in the graphic’s scale will need to be used, and the continued rise in global temperatures will require a “whole new colour” to express the extent of climate change graphically.
He created the graphic by analysing temperature data dating back to 1850, using the average period between 1971-2000 as a benchmark.
It has been seen at the United Nations and Glastonbury Festival, as well as making appearances on the cliffs at Dover, Envision Racing’s new Formula E car, and on the CN tower in Toronto, Canada.
Each of the last four decades has been warmer than any previous decade since 1850, and all 10 of the warmest years since 1884 have occurred in the last two decades.
Professor Hawkins said: “2024 will be the sixth year of Show Your Stripes Day and each year it has become more popular.
“We have started to so many climate conversations using our climate stripes, but now we need to turn these climate conversations into climate action.
“2023 was the hottest year on record, and 2024 has seen another five consecutive months of record heat. A warmer world will mean more extreme weather, more devastation and more suffering.
“Show your stripes, start conversations about our warming world, and take climate action–ask your politicians to push for net-zero emissions, live more sustainably and encourage others to act. The faster we act, the less bad the climate consequences will be.”
