KNITTING needles have been in full swing at Women’s Institute meetings across the Island in support of the battle against climate change.
A clutch of climate-stripe scarves were presented to the Maison St Louis Observatory yesterday to mark the weather challenges facing Jersey in the years ahead.
The striped scarves have been knitted by many of the WI’s 400 members, who meet regularly in 13 groups throughout the Island.
They will act as a 3D reminder in yarn, demonstrating how the climate has changed over the last 128 years in the Island.
The climate stripes knitting pattern has been produced by Angela Lister, chair of the WI crafts and arts committee, based on the original data and design developed by Ed Hawkins MBE at the University of Reading.
It demonstrates how the climate is gradually heating up and acts as a visual warning to the public about the urgency of the problem.
Its visual clarity has inspired a number of artists and designers, including the climate stripes mural painted by Ian Rolls at the Waterfront.
Jersey Met’s head of meteorology, Paul Aked, said: ‘This is a fantastic piece of craft.
‘It looks stunning and it helps us all think about how the annual average temperature has changed, making use of the very important data recorded locally over more than 100 years at the Maison St Louis Observatory.’
WI community and environment committee chair, Karen Blampied, said: ‘We would welcome anyone to take up the challenge of knitting your own climate-stripes scarf.
‘Wear it as a reminder that Jersey, as a community, needs to engage with our climate emergency, keeping the temperature increase on our Island and globally to no more than 1.5°C over the coming years.’
