#ShowYourStripes Day Highlights How Disturbingly Global Temperature Has Risen

The summer solstice does not only mark a new season — it also ushers in Show Your Stripes Day, just one day later. The relatively new annual holiday that aims to spread awareness about rising global temperatures via a unique graphic.

Anyone with a social media account can participate in #ShowYourStripes day — so keep reading for the details on the holiday, how to observe, and the meaning of the warming stripes that the holiday centers on.

On June 21, 2024 climate activists around the world will celebrate the sixth annual #ShowYourStripes day. According to Climate Central, the campaign aims to “spread awareness about climate change and rising global temperatures with the iconic warming stripes.”

According to the #ShowYourStripes website, the warming stripe graphics represent how average temperatures have changed — primarily, risen — over the past century and a half, largely due to the climate crisis and global heating. There is a different warming stripe graphic available for every continent and major region around the globe, as well as many individual countries, states, and cities.

Each stripe on each warming stripe graphic represents one year. As the #ShowYourStripes website notes, if you look at the warming stripes graphic for nearly any country or region, you’ll notice that the stripes start out primarily in the blue family, representing cooler average temperatures. Then, as time goes on, the stripes largely transition into more — and darker — shades of red, which represent warmer average temperatures.

Basically, the warming stripes graphics are visual representations of global warming over the past ~140 years.

Posting the image of your local warming stripes is the No. 1 way you’re encouraged to #ShowYourStripes on the holiday. To find your stripes, just visit showyourstripes.info, and under “Select Region,” choose your continent, country, and/or city. From there, download the image, and share it on social media with the hashtag #ShowYourStripes.

The warming stripes were popularized by climate scientist Professor Ed Hawkins of England’s University of Reading, and they are free for anyone to use under a CC-BY 4.0 license. If you post them anywhere, make sure to credit Professor Ed Hawkins and link back to the official website.

In addition to sharing your stripes online, you can also wear clothing (such as a shirt, scarf, or cloth face mask) with your region’s warming stripes.

But ultimately, what you choose to do on #ShowYourStripes day is up to you — and it’s a great chance to get imaginative.

“2024 will be the sixth year of Show Your Stripes Day and each year it has become more popular," Hawkins said in a statement, per the University of Reading. “We have started to so many climate conversations using our climate stripes, but now we need to turn these climate conversations into climate action."

He added: "Ask your politicians to push for net-zero emissions, live more sustainably, and encourage others to act. The faster we act, the less bad the climate consequences will be.”

“Our choices determine what happens next,” Hawkins told The New York Times in 2022. He hopes the day will inspire people to think about what humans have done to make global temperatures rise so alarmingly in recent years — and inspire people to work together to lighten the colors of warming stripe graphics as time goes on.

This article, originally published on June 20, 2022, has been updated.