If you’ve been to a climate demonstration in recent times, you may have noticed placards with a series of blue and red coloured stripes. Kind of like a barcode but in colour, with the shades varying from very light to very dark. You may have even seen them at political or sporting events, in the media, or on the cover of Greta Thunberg’s The Climate Book.

This set of graphics are known as warming stripes, and they’re not as random as they might first seem. Indeed, the coloured stripes have become a go-to symbol for many climate activists, given that they feature no letters and no numbers, meaning anyone anywhere in the world can understand their meaning.

What is the meaning? And how can such a simple graphic get across the complexity of climate change? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

First broadcast: 14/01/2023

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