Rising temperatures in Hong Kong are visualized in the last one set of “warming stripes” designed by British climate scientist Ed Hawkins as part of “#ShowYourStripes” day. The annual worldwide campaign aims to spark discussion about the climate crisis.
Saturday marked the ninth edition. The June 20 event encourages people around the world to share graphics representing temperature changes in different countries and regions over the past century and more.
Launched in 2018 by Hawkins, a University of Reading professor, the graph for most countries and regions shows lines that have shifted from mostly blue to red in recent years, indicating rising temperatures.
The chart for Hong Kong shows the city’s average temperature since 1885, based on data from the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO). The most recent bar, shown in dark burgundy, represents the highest increase in temperature relative to the average recorded between 1961 and 2010.
In a promotion video shared last year, Hawkins said the heat lines were intended to transform “abstract meteorological data” into “something people can’t ignore.”
He said he wanted the graphics – which have been featured on football shirts, projected onto the Tower of London and displayed at UN conferences – to prompt people to “ask questions”.
“You don’t have to be a scientist to understand the message and feel concerned. The Earth is heating up and the pace is accelerating,” Hawkins said.
See also: As extreme heat became the deadliest silent killer among the world’s weather disasters
Earlier this month, environmental NGO Friends of the Earth urged the Hong Kong government to prioritize the climate crisis and strengthen its climate adaptation policies, with the city expected to endure an unusually hot summer.
it has the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changewarnedthat the intensity and frequency of heat waves have continued to increase since the 1950s due to human-induced climate change. The release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide – which traps heat in the atmosphere – increases the planet’s surface temperature, with hotter and longer heatwaves that threaten lives.
See also:As extreme heat became the deadliest silent killer among the world’s weather disasters
Hong Kong has already warmed by 1.7 degrees Celsius since the Industrial Revolution, according to research NGO Berkeley Earth.says. Heat and humidity could reach deadly levels for long periods until the end of the century, according to a 2023STUDYmaking it impossible to stay outside in some parts of the world.
