Since the very first mentions of climate change, scientists have been looking at radical new ways to combat the crisis and elevate its importance in the public eye.

Ed Hawkins, a climate change scientists, took to the cause in 2018 with his visualization of climate change in the form of an animated spiral graph. Despite his efforts and professional commendations; ‘’the most compelling global warming visualization ever made", his graph didn’t inspire the public as he had hoped it would.

A year later, he fronted an even more simplistic campaign to raise awareness for global warming, calling it the #showyourstripes campaign. The visual media Hawkins created is composed using a series of vertical stripes fading from a dark blue into a deep red, to represent the long-term temperature trends in America since 1850 (This marks the end of the Industrial revolution when climate change is recorded as a beginning). As well as advancing the project to include a social media trend and hashtag, the project has now advanced from focusing on America to including the majority of the globe within its data. This means that you can generate a ‘Climate Stripes’ chart for specific Areas, Countries and even Counties/States from around the world so that you can #showyourstripes. You can also order #showyourstripes merchandise such as badges and ties to support the cause here.

Now, in 2020, we are seeing the public as well as news outlets associate with the stripes in order to raise awareness. Even more importantly, government heads such as several Senators in the USA are now adorning the #SHOWYOURSTRIPES badge which has hugely enlightened the public to this innovative climate change campaign.

To get involved, you can contribute to the cause by purchasing items from their online shop or by updating your social media accounts to include #showyourstripes graphics, downloadable here.