Show Your Stripes
by Sonam Velani All hands - and feet - on deck! Having spent my career connecting the dots between cities, climate, and capital, I’ve learned that one of the most important things we can do to fight climate change is to talk about it. And a great way to start that conversation is to #ShowYourStripes!
My dear friend and climate artist Nicole Kelner inspired me to go all in and show my stripes 24/7 this summer! We’ve both painted our nails to visualize global warming trends over the last 150 years:
🌡 Each stripe represents the average temperature for a year.
🥶 The blues are cooler-than-normal, whites are neutral, and reds are warmer-than-normal.
🥵 You’ll notice that the stripes take a sharp turn toward the reds in the 1990s. Last year was the darkest ever.
🏭 How dark the stripes get by the end of this century depends on whether the world keeps pumping more greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
🌎 Simply said: The color scheme depends entirely on us.
There are many in the climate community who’ve made the warming stripes a global phenomenon, from University of Georgia marine scientist Joan Sheldon crocheting a blanket for her friend’s newborn baby to University of Reading Professor Ed Hawkins turning the stripes into one of the world’s most popular infographics.
We’re using these stripes to communicate the reality of a warming world with a broader audience - not just the people who nerd out about pervious concrete, heat pumps, vertical farms, green roofs, offshore wind, and much else that fills our days. The more people who see and understand this huge problem, the better chance we have of solving it.
Want ideas to start the conversation?
🎨 Check out Nicole’s beautiful work at the intersection of climate, art, and technology.
📈 Download the warming stripes for every single country (and continent) in the world. Side note: Antarctica broke the color scale.
👩🏻🏫 Watch the weather tonight, as 520 meteorologists worldwide wear warming stripes on the summer solstice to bring the climate conversation right to your living room.
💅🏽 See the creative collection of warming stripes from across the globe below, with everything from Atelier Tammam’s couture catwalk show at London Fashion Week to the crowdfunded paint job on the Sachsen Bridge in Leipzig, with warming stripes visible from space!
Enjoy the summer solstice and use all those hours of the longest day of the year to #ShowYourStripes!
#ShowYourStripes, #MetsUnite, #ClimateActionNow, #GlobalWarming, #ClimateChange, #ClimateArt, #DataViz, #Infographic, #CityDesign, #ResilientCities, #Sustainability, #ClimateTech, #SustainableDevelopmentGoals, #GreenFuture #TogetherForOurPlanet
by Sonam Velani