Connecting people through craft and climate action
Craft for Climate is a community art project charting our changing climate.
Yorkshire has a world-renowned textile heritage and vibrant creative sector. We are celebrating both with our bold and engaging art display, highlighting climate change trends through a powerful visualisation of our climate’s warming.
Our first project - Knit the Stripes - involves local crafters working in cohort to knit scarves displaying annual average temperature data and, when assembled, charting the history of Bradford’s changing climate from 1853 to 2023 – our very own climate stripes.
Launched in January 2024, Knit the Stripes engaged over 200 members of our community in crafting and climate conversations and been shown to almost 10,000 people at local art and community events.
We are now working on our second project - Square the Risk. This time we are crocheting our way across communities to create large scale maps of UK climate risk in 2050, if we don’t act now.
You can follow our progress on Instagram @knitthestripes.
Or get in touch via email.
Knit the Stripes
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Create
Our ‘Knit the Stripes’ display shows the average temperature in Bradford from the opening of Salts Mill in 1853 to 2023. Each year (1853 – 2023) is represented by a single scarf. The colour of the scarf corresponds to the average temperature for that year, relative to the overall average. The cooler the year, the deeper the blue; the warmer the year, the deeper the red. The message is clear, our climate is changing and the most rapid warming has occurred in recent years.
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Connect
Over 200 crafters have volunteered their time to create the display. We met in workplaces, churches, schools, homes, shops, cafés, and community halls. Along the way we have talked climate. We’ve shared our concerns and frustrations. We’ve celebrated our progress. And we’ve connected with others who are taking positive climate action. Together, our community knitters have contributed 3.5 million stitches, each one a small but vital act towards our goal.
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Inspire
Our exhibit has been shown to almost 10,000 people at The Saltaire Arts Trail (2024), Bradford Cathedral (2025) and Yarndale (2025). At each location we have spread our message of climate optimism and our belief that every action matters.
Find Out More
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Craft for Climate is engaging our community in positive climate conversations to support optimism and empower action.
Problems don’t go away by ignoring them, especially the big ones. So let’s talk climate. Let’s unpack what it means for us – locally and as connected global citizens. Let’s share our concerns and connect with others who are taking positive action.
We have people working on this project from across the community; individuals and existing craft groups. Streets have signed up to collaborate. Businesses are donating materials. Local education settings are getting involved.
And for every person that is involved, it’s one more positive climate conversation
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Climate change is a huge challenge. As a result of human activity, our planet is getting warmer, everywhere. This long-term shift causes disruption to a range of the natural systems and cycles that we are part of.
The UK’s average temperature has already warmed by one degree since the 1950s. Looking ahead, we expect to see warmer and wetter winters, hotter and drier summers, and more frequent and intense weather extremes. The extent of wider impacts of climate change on human health, biodiversity, ocean function, and food production, for example, depend on how we act now.
You can find out more about climate change and the impact it is having on us in UK at the Met Office’s dedicated climate change pages.
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The climate stripes are a powerful visual representation of our changing climate, originally produced by Ed Hawkins from the University of Reading. Without numbers, dates, or complicated climate science, they communicate a clear story of global warming, globally and locally, for cities and countries all over the world.
We are creating our own uniquely Yorkshire interpretation – and knitting our stripes for Bradford into a large community art instillation!
You can find out more about the Climate Stripes at showyourstripes.info
We’ve used publicly available met office data to inform our climate stripes. You can find out more about climate change on the Met Office website.
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Every action matters,
Every bit of warming matters,
Every year matters,
Every choice matters.
The Priestley Centre for Climate Futures at the University of Leeds has assembled helpful advice and videos on taking meaningful climate action. You can access these resources here.
You might fin it helpful to understand more about your own personal carbon footprint or become more Carbon Literate.
Whatever you do next, let’s all keep talking about what we are doing to fight climate change.
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So far we have displayed our stripes at venues across Yorkshire (Saltaire, Bradford and Skipton). But we’d love to help even more people to get crafting for climate.
If you have a venue, and would like us to come and talk about climate change (and host our display), please get in touch!
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Every project has an environmental, social, economic, and climate impact. Seeking sustainability is about balance and compromise, and making the best possible decisions for planet and people. We have been mindful of the impact of our project from day one; our main challenge was the choice of material used in the display.
We have chosen to use 100% British Wool. Wool is a natural and renewable resource. It is biodegradable, does not contribute to micro-plastic pollution, and requires significantly less life-cycle care (washing) than alternative fabrics. We have sourced our wool locally and worked closely with our supplier to ensure high standards of animal welfare.
However, we are also conscious of the whole life cycle carbon impact of wool, relative to synthetic alternatives.
We are working with British Wool and West Yorkshire Spinners to build an accurate picture of the life-cycle carbon and environmental impact of the wool used for the #knitthestripes display. High quality data already exists for the farm to gate stage of the process. We continue to build on this knowledge and maximise the positive impact of this project wherever possible.
The wool used in this display will be re-used for future Craft for Climate projects.
You can read more about sustainability issues on the British Wool website
