Creative engagement
Art, culture, craftivism... they all have a role to play in helping us to understand what's going on, and to imagine how things can be better than they are right now.
You might well have seen the warming stripes developed by Professor Ed Hawkins - but it's possible you haven't seen a set of knitted warming stripes filling a room at your local community centre.
I saw these on Bank Holiday Monday at the Saltaire Arts Trail.
First up, it's worth saying that if you want a bit of inspiration on how business can change the world, head to Saltaire, have a wander round and marvel at the quality of the housing that Titus Salt built for his mill workers. Talk about changing the world for the better.
It’s located on the Leeds-Liverpool canal - I wrote about a ride up to Saltaire Brewery - with some reflections on carbon footprints - last year.
With the knitted warming stripes, each year - from 1853 - 2023 - is represented by a single scarf. The colour of the scarf corresponds to Bradford's average temperature for that year, relative to the overall average over the whole period.
Over 200 crafters volunteered their time - contributing 3.5 million stitches. I spoke with one volunteer, who'd worked with a local school, teaching children how to knit.
It won't come as a surprise that some of the kids who enjoyed it most were the kids who were struggling in other ways as their school curriculum squeezes out most things like this. But I suppose that's a whole different story.
Finding crafty, creative ways to engage people
I'm a big fan of craftivism, and of other creative ways to get people engaged in tackling the climate crisis.
One of the many things I liked about this - and I say this with love as someone who tried to learn how to knit during lockdown and soon gave up - is that some of the scarves were expertly knitted, whilst others perhaps weren't.
That's the beauty of this kind of community engagement. I'd suggest it also points us to what our collective response to the climate crisis needs to look like.
It's not about perfection. It's not about a small group of people leading completely virtuous lives, free of any contradictions.
It's about turning up. Learning along the way, taking inspiration from others. Doing stuff together. Finding what matters to you, what moves you, what motivates you to do more.
As we headed back home to Leeds on the train, the heavens opened.
We got home before trains were cancelled because of flash flooding. Before Leeds ring road was closed, with cars abandoned in the flood water.
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A reminder - as if we needed it after the record-breaking last 18 months of rain - that storms are becoming more frequent and more intense. And a reminder of the importance of finding creative ways to help people to understand what's going on - and then work out what to do.
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