Reading University: Show Your Stripes — The UK Is Warming

Millions reached through news coverage, social media and campaign sharing

Coverage: BBC News · The Guardian · Geographical Magazine · The Business Magazine · International science and climate media

We have partnered with the University of Reading for several years to help bring climate science to life through large-scale public projection mapping across the UK, Europe and North America.

Each year, to mark Show Your Stripes Day, we project the iconic Climate Stripes – a simple sequence of blue-to-red bands representing more than 150 years of rising global temperatures. Created by climate scientist Professor Ed Hawkins, the visual has become one of the world’s most recognisable symbols of climate change, enabling millions of people to understand global warming instantly, without the need for words or data.

Our most recent collaboration saw us partner with the National Trust to project the Climate Stripes onto St Michael’s Tower on Glastonbury Tor. The projection formed part of a global campaign inviting people, schools, businesses and cities to download and share their local Climate Stripes, using a simple visual to spark conversations and inspire action on climate change.

We often joked with the University of Reading about the challenge of staging projections on the longest day of the year, but there could be no more fitting place to mark the summer solstice than one of Britain’s most spiritual and iconic landmarks.

To minimise our impact on both Glastonbury Tor and its visitors, every piece of equipment was carried up the hill by hand by our production team. In many ways, the experience felt like a pilgrimage. Transforming the historic tower into a beacon of climate awareness created a quiet yet powerful moment, encouraging reflection on our changing planet.

The Glastonbury Tor projection became one of the defining moments of Show Your Stripes Day 2026, transforming one of Britain’s most iconic landscapes into a powerful symbol of climate awareness and inspiring conversations about our warming world. The installation invited people across the UK to reflect on the impact of climate change on the landscapes, communities and food systems we depend upon.

By illuminating St. Michael’s Tower atop Glastonbury Tor, the campaign combined an iconic national landmark with one of the world’s simplest yet most powerful pieces of climate communication. The projection demonstrated how bold visual storytelling can transform scientific data into an emotional public experience that reaches audiences far beyond traditional environmental campaigns.

The projection received widespread media attention as part of the University’s Show Your Stripes campaign and reinforced the Climate Stripes as one of the world’s most recognisable visual representations of climate change. Projected during Glastonbury Festival’s fallow year, the installation created a timely and thought-provoking message: while landscapes can be given time to recover, climate change does not take a break.

Millions encountered the Climate Stripes through news coverage, social media and campaign sharing, helping turn over 170 years of global temperature data into a visual language recognised around the world.

Show Your Stripes Day continues to encourage individuals, businesses, schools and cities to download and display their own local Climate Stripes, using a simple visual to spark conversations that can inspire meaningful climate action.

‘We have worked with POW for several years to project the famous climate stripes onto landmarks such as Tate Modern, Glastonbury Tor, the BT Tower and the White Cliffs of Dover. In each case their technical expertise, creativity and unique experience has been invaluable in turning ambitious ideas into impactful and powerful communications, which have been central to sharing the climate stripes and their important message around the world’.

Dylan Parkes, Director of Strategic Engagement (Climate & Environmental Sustainability)