Today, 21 June, is #ShowYourStripes day. 

The warming stripes are the genius creation of Ed Hawkins at Reading University.  

These ‘warming stripe’ graphics are visual representations of the change in temperature as measured in each country, region or city over the past 100+ years. Each stripe or bar represents the temperature in that country, region or city averaged over a year.

The stripes typically start around the year 1900 and finish in 2022, but for many countries, regions and cities the stripes start in the 19th century or sometimes even the 18th century.

We have recently looked at these stripes, and some of the other visualisations, at home sparked by a conversation of how hot the summer holidays will be this year. We compared what the climate was like when my grandparents were kids vs my own experience vs that of my kids. Having a visualisation made a very complex topic accessible and opened up an opportunity to talk about the risks we face, the choices we can make and the solutions we can adopt. 

Pictures are worth a 100 words, right?!

Have you come across the warming stripes before? Head over to the website https://showyourstripes.info to explore more. 

#ShareYourStripes today!