Show Your Stripes Day at the University of Reading

What is Show Your Stripes Day?

Show Your Stripes Day, celebrated in every year in mid to late June, is a global moment to share our concern about how the climate is changing and the need for urgent action in our local communities and around the world.

On Show Your Stripes Day, we ask everyone to share the famous “Climate Stripes”, displaying temperatures from their local area – region, country, or even city.

The Climate Stripes, created by climate scientist Professor Ed Hawkins at the University of Reading, powerfully represent how temperatures have increased around the world since the Industrial Revolution. Each stripe represents one year’s average temperature relative to the average temperature of the time period between 1961-2010. The colours transition from cool blues to warm reds to represent the increases in temperature seen throughout the past 150 years or more.

On Show Your Stripes Day we call on individuals, schools and colleges, businesses, and cities around the world to highlight their local climate stripes and share the powerful message they convey.

Why is it important?

Show Your Stripes Day provides a simple, yet impactful way to communicate the reality of climate change. By condensing decades of temperature data into a series of recognisable stripes, it makes understanding global warming accessible to all, from being able to recreate the stripes in schools, to sharing local stripes across social media.

The stripes have also been important for striking up global conversations, climate education and leadership. In the past, on this day, they have been displayed in a wide range of prominent public spaces, from Times Square, New York, to the White Cliffs of Dover, UK. By displaying the stripes in locations worldwide, people have been inspired to download and share the stripes online and help spread their message of concern and commitment to address climate change.

2024 was the warmest year on record globally. Extreme weather events continue to be seen more frequently around the world. Never has the need to address climate change been more urgent.

How to Show Your Stripes

Participating in Show Your Stripes Day is easy! Whether you are an individual, an organisation or a school or college looking to involve your learners, there are accessible activities for all. By joining in, you’ll help increase awareness about climate change and demonstrate your commitment to taking action.

To download your local warming stripes for Show Your Stripes Day, follow these steps:

Visit the Show Your Stripes Website
Select Your Region

Choose the country and location, or alternatively use the ‘Map’ tab to see an interactive world map where you can see all stripes available and quickly find the location closest to you.
From the options menu (blue circular tab located on the bottom right corner of the image) you can either choose to download your chosen image, or share directly to LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter) or Instagram. Share and Spread AwarenessShare the warming stripes graphic across social media, or your organisations internal media using the tags #ShowYourStripes and @UniofReading. Share one thing that surprised you about the Climate Stripes, most memorable climate moments from the previous year, or why climate awareness or education are important to you.

By downloading and sharing the Climate Stripes, you can help amplify the message of climate change awareness. Every share and every conversation adds up – so let’s make our stripes known and our voices heard this Show Your Stripes Day!