Since 2021 Common Grace has marked Show Your Stripes Day, 21 June, as part of our Knit for Climate Action campaign, urging our nation's leaders on this day to #WearTheScarf and #ShowYourStripes for urgent climate action.
Show Your Stripes Day is an annual, international day to raise awareness for climate action, sparked by climate scientist Professor Ed Hawkins development of coloured stripes to represent climate data in 2018.
In Australia Show Your Stripes Day falls on the Winter Solstice. In 2024, the Winter Solstice looks set to be the hottest on record - a stark reminder that credible, urgent action on climate is needed more than ever.
Since 2020, Christians passionate about seeing urgent climate action have been knitting the data of our warming climate into the haunting stripes of the Common Grace Knit for Climate Action scarves. The stripes of the Common Grace Knit for Climate Action scarf reflect the average global temperatures since 1919 using the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies temperature data developed by meteorologist Dr Mick Pope, and inspired by Ed Hawkins. The stripes capture the haunting reality of a warming world over the last century, with an additional 17th colour stripe needing to be added to reflect the record breaking heat of 2023.
Through Common Grace Knit for Climate Action more than 1,700 scarves have been knitted and gifted to leaders across Australia to spark conversations and bold political action on climate change. Show Your Stripes Day, 21 June, is an opportunity for our nation's leaders to #WearTheScarf and show their support for coordinated, credible, bold and urgent climate action.
Join us in calling on our federal parliamentarians to #WearTheScarf on Show Your Stripes Day, 21 June, by sharing this image on Facebook or Instagram (or a photo of you wearing your own climate scarf) and tag @CommonGraceAus and your federal MP and Senators, asking them to #WearTheScarf and #ShowYourStripes in support for our nation taking big steps forward on urgent and ambitious climate action.
You can also mix your crafting skills with passion for climate justice by knitting a climate scarf with Common Grace's Knit for Climate Action. Find out more here!
Gallery of #ShowYourStripes support
Below is a snapshot of our nation's leaders wearing their Common Grace Knit for Climate Action scarves for #ShowYourStripes Day and other key #WearTheScarf moments.
_____________________________
Photo Credits & Thanks
📸 #WearTheScarf moment, October 2021: (L-R) ALP Caucus, (credit: Mike Bowers), Senator Penny Wong, Milton Dick MP, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, Amanda Rishworth MP, Luke Gosling MP.
📸 (L-R) Weather Presenter Nate Byrne wearing his scarf on ABC Breakfast, Show Your Stripes Day 2023; Helen Haines MP for Indi (VIC), Zali Steggall MP for Warringah (NSW) and Rebekha Sharkie MP for Mayo (SA) wearing their Common Grace #KnitForClimateAction scarves while addressing the Strengthening Parliamentary Consensus For Global Change #COP26 event, 2021; MP Samantha Ratnam (Leader of the Victorian Greens) wearing her Common Grace #KnitForClimateAction scarf as she headed into debate for a Climate Bill in the Victorian Parliament, September 2022; Josh Wilson MP and Sally Sitou MP wearing their Common Grace #KnitForClimateAction scarves as they voted to pass the Climate Bill August 2022.
📸 (L-R) #Show Your Stripes 2022: Senator David Pocock meeting with Common Grace knitters, Allegra Spender MP, Josh Burns MP, Alicia Payne MP meeting with knitter Gill King, Kristy McBain MP and Fiona Phillips MP, Fiona Phillips MP for Gilmore NSW, Zali Steggall MP
📸 (L-R) #ShowYourStripes 2021: Adam Bandt MP (VIC), Helen Haines MP (VIC), and Zali Steggall MP (NSW) wearing their climate scarves during Question Time; Rebekha Sharkie MP and Senator Janet Rice wearing their climate scarves while speaking in Parliament House; Helen Haines MP and Zali Steggall MP wearing their scarves in the House of Representatives Question Time.
📸 (L-R) #ShowYourStripes 2021: Kristy McBain MP (Eden-Monaro NSW), Anne Aly MP, Zali Steggall MP, Susan Templeman MP (Macquarie, NSW), Dr Andrew Leigh MP (Fenner, ACT), Maria Vamvakinou MP (Calwell Vic), Ged Kearney MP wearing her scarf during Question Time in Parliament House, Andrew Laming MP (Bowen, QLD), Senator Sue Lines (WA), Dr Mike Freelander MP (Macarthur NSW), Katie Allen MP.