On the First Day of Summer, Show Your Climate Stripes

June 21-- one week from today!--  marks the official beginning of summer. But with memories of Canada’s wildfires eerily blotting out the sky still fresh in our minds, June 21 marks another, even more important day.

It’s the sixth annual #ShowYourStripes Day. 

#ShowYourStripes is a global campaign to spread awareness about climate change using the warming stripes graphics. The iconic blue and red barcode will appear on landmarks, TV screens, magazines, me and hopefully you, as the world unites to show their stripes on June 21.

Even the Ben Franklin Bridge will be decked out on news and bluer stripes that day to mark the occasion, one of several landmarks across the country that will be wearing their stripes.

Perhaps you’ve seen the barcode. Developed by British climate scientist Ed Hawkins, the stripes are a simple but stunning visual representation of the long-term rise in global temperatures due to human-caused climate change. Each stripe represents the global temperature averaged over one year, from 1850 to 2022. Red stripes are years that were hotter than the 1971-2000 average; blue stripes are cooler. The deeper the color, the more extreme the temperature. White stripes are spot-on for the average.

Check out the photo that goes along with this blog post-- I’ve been putting it on Facebook and Twitter too. This represents Philadelphia's unique barcode, as our good friends at Climate Central have developed one for each American city. In the early decades on the left side of the image, there is a mixture of mostly blues, whites, and a little bit of red, as there were of course occasional cold and warm years even then. But the blues started dropping out in recent decades, and have completely vanished in recent years-- and the reds just get deeper. There are some blues on the right side of the image, but no deep blues for many, many decades.

You want to see a climate trend? Look no further. Here it is.

In 2022, Earth measured 2.0°F (1.1°C) warmer than the 1881-1910 baseline, and dangerously close to the internationally-agreed goal of limiting global warming to 2.7°F (1.5°C) above pre-industrial levels.

Visit Climate Central’s new Show Up for Stripes Day page for more free graphics, examples of warming stripes in action, and to locate the 16 landmarks across the U.S. (and Toronto) that will light up for #ShowYourStripes day.

Then share these stripes on social media, explore Climate Central’s resource library , and update your social accounts with warming stripes images—including a Zoom background and filters for Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Ask your fav TV meteorologists to show their stripes too. 

With those wildfires STILL burning-- earlier, hotter, and more widespread than in years past-- and with the Atlantic warming up faster than ever recorded, join me next week in wearing your stripes.

And do something-- anything-- for climate.