CLIMATE STRIPES CAMPAIGN SUCCESS RECOGNISED BY GUARDIAN AWARDS
New Delhi: A campaign that prompted millions of people around the world to share a climate change graphic made at the University of Reading has been named runner up in the Guardian Awards 2020.
The climate stripes were created by Professor Ed Hawkins, professor of climate science at Reading, and illustrate how average global temperatures have risen over the past century using bars coloured in shades of blue and red.
Stripes for more than 200 countries and US states were made available to the public for free in summer 2019 via showyourstripes.info, and more than a million people had downloaded them within a week, with many high-profile figures and organisations sharing them on social media.
The #ShowYourStripes campaign was named runner up by the Guardian on 25 November in the Marketing and Comms Campaign category, alongside a climate science campaign by the University of Oxford, and behind winners King’s College London for their air pollution campaign.
Reading also finished runner up in the Research Impact category, with a Pharmacy project that led to a new medicine derived from cannabis being approved in the EU to treat childhood epilepsy in September 2019.
THOUSANDS SHOW THEIR STRIPES
Thousands of people and organisations have shared the climate stripes on social media since they were made, including Extinction Rebellion, the World Meteorological Organization and World Wildlife Fund Climate and Energy initiative.
High-profile personalities such as television weather presenters, US senators and UK MPs also wore badges, ties and scarves depicting the stripes, while they were adopted by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the US House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, and rock band Enter Shikari for their Main Stage set at Reading Festival 2019.
Professor Parveen Yaqoob, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation, said: “Firstly, I would like to congratulate my colleagues – it’s fantastic to see that all their hard work, over many years, has been recognised.
“Secondly, and more importantly, this project is an example of just some of the ground-breaking research going on here at Reading that has the ability to change the lives of people not just here in the UK, but in the rest of world as well.”
The international reach of the #ShowYourStripes campaign is one example of the worldwide collaborations by experts at the University of Reading. Several scientists at the University of Reading work closely with colleagues at the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), and benefit from its nearby location in Reading.