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.

What does climate change mean for us in the UK?

The impact of climate change will vary around the world. In the UK we are likely to experience: Warmer and wetter winters; Hotter and drier summers; and More frequent and intense weather extremes.

Our maps will show how these changes may affect us all, in different parts of the UK.

You can follow our progress on Instagram @knitthestripes.

Or get in touch via email.

Square the Risk

  • Create

    First we knitted the stripes, showing how how our climate has changed. Now we have launched a new art display showing how climate change may affect us in the UK, if we don’t act now. To make our new display we need lots of squares! The squares will be used to create large-scale maps of the UK, highlighting climate risks over the next few decades.

  • Connect

    Our first Map - Heatwaves - is almost done; over 200 people have already contributed (by knitting and crocheting squares) at events across Yorkshire. We have two maps to go… Our craft and climate chat events and workshops spark positive climate conversations connecting people from across the region (and the UK) with our message of climate hope.

  • Inspire

    We take actions every day that reduce emissions and help tackle climate change. Big or small, every single action matters. We love hearing how you act for climate: At home, in the community, at work, and using your influence. At all our events, we encourage participants to share their actions and inspire others.

Find Out More

  • 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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Every action matters,

    Every bit of warming matters,

    Every year matters,

    Every choice matters.

    IPCC, 2018

    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.

  • 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!

  • 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