Mix your craft skills and passion for action on climate change
Since September 2020, Common Grace put out a call for Christians across Australia to mix their creativity with their enthusiasm for creation and climate justice and knit scarves that tell the truth of our warming climate. Hundreds of knitters from across Australia have been knitting the reality of our warming climate into the vivid and hauntingly beautiful Knit for Climate Action scarves.
The Knit for Climate Action campaign grew from there…
- Sept 2020 - call out for scarves to be knitted
- May 2021 - almost 300 scarves received
- 21 June 2021 - #ShowYourStripes Day 2021. We gathered on Ngunnawal and Ngambri country, at the lawns of Parliament House to bring the gracious and powerful message of the need for urgent climate action to the heart of our nation’s capital through our Knit for Climate Action.
- July to Oct 2021 - Grassroots advocacy meetings with MPs and Senators.
- 21 Oct 2021 - #WearTheScarf. On 21 October, the last joint sitting day in parliament before COP26, Common Grace called on every federal MP and Senator to #WearTheScarf to show their support for urgent, ambitious climate action.
- Oct to Nov 2021 - Knitting Together Faith and Justice during COP26. Scarves gifted to James Bhagwan, Archbishop of Canterbury and Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland.
- May 2022 - Election of climate aware parliament
- 21 June 2022 - #ShowYourStripesDay 2022
- Oct to Nov 2022 - COP27. Common Grace’s Creation and Climate Justice Coordinator, Jane Kelly attended COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt and brought 19 climate scarves with her. These lovingly knitted scarves made it into the hands of some influential people including Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault; the 45th US vice president and climate environmentalist Al Gore; the magnificently passionate Katharine Hayhoe; climate activist legend Bill McKibben; senior aides to the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, and USA President Joe Biden; as well as Masig Island man Yessie Mosby, who was part of the Torres Strait Eight. Read Jane’s blog from her amazing experience at COP27.
- Feb 2023 - Common Grace Knit for Climate Action scarves feature in the Museum of Australian Democracy Blueprint exhibition in Old Parliament House, on Ngunnawal Country, Canberra. See a photo of some of our wonderful #KnitForClimateAction knitters with Jane Kelly and Monique Hughes from Common Grace at the MoAD Blueprint exhibition.
- 21 June 2023 - ABC Weather presenter, Nate Byrne wears his scarf gifted to him on #ShowYourStripes Day 2023
If knitting’s not your thing, that’s okay!
You can support Knit for Climate Action by sharing it on social media and encouraging any knitters you know to participate. Or Donate today to help demand urgent climate action.