TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — It’s a simple image, with a simple message. The Earth is warming — fast!
When Professor Ed Hawkins of the University of Reading (UK) first created the warming stripes in 2018 the idea was to quickly communicate the speed and degree to which our planet was warming. The cool blue to warm red is an eye-catching and compelling visual.
Since the 1800s global surface temperature, which includes land and the ocean surface, has increased by an average of 2 degrees F. Land areas are warming at about double that rate.
It caught on quickly because just a quick glance tells a story of how fast our planet is changing as humans continue to pump heat-trapping emissions into the atmosphere. About 90% of that heat ends up being stored in the oceans as pictured in this visual below.
“All you see is 173 colored stripes — One stripe for every year since 1850 up to the present, Hawkins said. “Every stripe is colored by the temperature of the globe in that year.”
This Wednesday, June 21, the first day of summer, will be the 5th anniversary of Show Your Stripes day. The climate concerned from all around the planet will display images of Warming Stripes in their local area on social media to promote climate education. You can find local US images here and global images here.
The idea started back on June 21, 2018, when meteorologists from all over the world adopted the visual, making it into ties, mugs, earrings, etc., and displayed the stripes on their daily weathercasts, calling it #MetsUnite on climate.
The day was spearheaded by WFLA Chief Meteorologist and Climate Specialist Jeff Berardelli, along with Bernadette Woods Placky of Climate Central, and Professor Hawkins.
Since then, the #ShowYourStripes event has become an annual tradition and the stripes have gained worldwide appeal. The design has been made into art installations, used as logos by the UN and US House of Representatives, and even recently made it to the Pope.
“It’s the opportunity to start a conversation on climate change,” Woods Placky said. “We can use it as a moment to collectively raise voices an start those conversations.”
“The power of this graphic can be adopted and adapted in so many different ways to reach so many different audiences and prompt conversations,” Hawkins added.
Here in Florida temperatures have increased on par with the global average.
And in Tampa, we have warmed 2 degrees during summer and 5 degrees during winters since 1970. The pace of warming has increased quickly over the past decade.
If you’d like to participate in #ShowYourStripes day, or just want to check out the warming from different areas all around the world, you can download your own stripes. Local US images can be found here and global images can be downloaded from here. When sharing, use (hashtag) #ShowYourStripes on social media.
