#ShowYourStripes Day: World unites behind climate science

People across the planet have come together in support of climate action by once again placing the spotlight on a stark visualisation of rising temperatures created at the University of Reading.

The climate stripes, designed by Professor Ed Hawkins, were shared by senators, global organisations, television presenters and thousands of others around the world to mark the summer solstice on Tuesday (21 June) – which has become known as #ShowYourStripes Day.

A new partnership was also announced on the day between the University and Reading Football Club. The University will provide knowledge and expertise to help the Club take steps to reduce its carbon footprint and mobilise its fanbase to make positive changes too.

Unusual examples of how the stripes were adopted ahead of #ShowYourStripes Day 2022 included being printed on beer cans in Arizona, nappies in the UK, artistic murals in Jersey and Puerto Rico and on a bridge in Leipzig, Germany, which can be seen from space. The bridge artwork came about thanks to a crowdfunding project by climate justice groups in the city.

Staff at the University of Reading and its international campuses and partner institutions all celebrated #ShowYourStripes Day, bringing together the university’s global community around a single image that has inspired the world.

The University of Reading Malaysia and Henley Business School Africa showed their support for the day, as did the University of Oklahoma, which partners with the University of Reading on meteorology research and teaching.

Locally in Reading, supporters included Reading Borough Council, Reading Museum and Living Reading, with the Reading Today and Wokingham Today newspapers running the stripes across their front pages.

Several other campaign groups also supported the initiative, with justice group Common Grace presenting striped scarves to senators and federal MPs in Australia, and Scientists for the Future Bingen in Germany adopting the stripes within its Twitter profile picture.

The Sachsenbrucke bridge in Leipzig, Germany, painted with the climate stripes following a crowdfunding campaign

Albert Martinez, Senior Meteorologist at the Weather Channel in Spain @AlbertEltiempo

A climate stripes scarf is presented to Australian Federal MP David Pocock @CommonGraceAus

NBC weather presenter Rachael Jay explains the stripes for Connecticut @_RachaelTV