After the last State of the Union address (for truth in advertising, I don’t listen to POTUS. He seems to be a random policy generation machine that suffers from fictional free-association rants when he speaks, all tied together with cheer-leading for his own greatness. I just get upset.) I saw this little note that some Democrats had these lapel pins that had all these blue and white, a bit of orange and some red strips on them. They were to say that the wearers care about global warming mitigation and climate policy, something the Republican party seems to think is a liberal hoax. I got curious and started reading more.
Turns out the are called Climate Strips. A UK climate scientist at the University of Reading named Ed Hawkins came up with this great idea to graphically illustrate the effect of global warming. This was the origin of Climate Strips. While not new for this year, I’d never heard of them before. I think it’s great! Anyway, I wanted a lapel pin. I couldn’t find them anywhere. At Ed’s Zazzle shop, there are badges, but the smallest was 2″x2″ which was too big for my tastes. I wanted a nice little shiney lapel pin. But there weren’t any for sale in his store. I tried Etsy… No luck.
So I had some made myself. I found a company called LapelPinsOnline and had some made. Of course, I chose the wrong type to do a multi-color graphic, but the staff was great, suggested a better way to go, that was actually less expensive, and I bought ’em! The minimum order was 100 pieces. Cost $200 including shipping. So, what does one do with 100 climate stripe pins? I give them away. My wife took some to her book club. I sent some to a friend in Santa Barbara who gave them away to her friends. A hiking buddy took some to England and gave them to relatives. I gave them out to people at Doggy Play. I gave them to the kids in the carpool I drive. And I gave them to people at the Pearson-Arasteradero Preserve, a place I hike with my dog in the Palo Alto hills.
No, this isn’t going to stop climate change. But it has already started many conversations. Think global. Act Local.
