The climate stripes light up Lecce: CMCC participates in the festival Conversazioni sul futuro, bringing the topic of climate change to the center of public debate. In its tenth edition, from October 12 to 15, Conversazioni sul futuro joins the #ShowYourStripes campaign: with the collaboration of the Municipality of Lecce, colored stripes illustrating the temperature increase in the city from 1981 to 2022 will be visible on the city walls. The stripes were obtained by visualizing high-resolution data produced by the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC), with the consultation of information designer Angela Morelli and scientist Paola Mercogliano. During the festival, CMCC will also discuss “Journalism, science, and knowledge: Pietro Greco’s lesson”, “Data, journalism, and scientific information”, and “Climate change and the future of cities”.

From October 12 to 15, the festival Conversazioni sul futuro joins the #ShowYourStripes campaign. From 7 PM to 11 PM, the “Climate Stripes” dedicated to Lecce will be projected on the Urban Walls (“mura urbiche”) at the northern entrance of the city center. These stripes visualize high-resolution data from the last forty years produced by the CMCC Foundation, with the consultation of information designer Angela Morelli (CEO – InfoDesignLab) and scientist Paola Mercogliano (President elect of the Italian Society for Climate Sciences and researcher at CMCC Foundation). Invented in 2018 by British climatologist Ed Hawkins, climate stripes are an effective visualization of global and local warming climate data, having a significant visual impact and being understandable to everyone.

Lecce’s warming stripes specifically represent the city’s temperature difference each year from 1981 to 2022, compared to the average temperature from the late 1900s to the early 2000s. In other words, the stripes show how the temperature has changed in the last forty years compared to the temperature we were accustomed to. If a stripe is red, it means the temperature increased in that year; if it’s blue, it means it decreased. The darker the red and blue, the greater the temperature difference, indicating warmer for red and colder for blue. Looking at the stripes depicting Lecce’s temperature, it is noticeable that from 1998 onwards the stripes are mostly red, with intensifying temperature increases in recent years. In particular, the stripes turn an even brighter red from 2012, the year when the city heated up by over 1 degree Celsius. The hottest year overall was 2018, with a temperature exceeding the average by 1.4 degrees.

The climate stripes are the result of advanced research in the field of climate change, conducted by the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change in Lecce, particularly by Professor Paola Mercogliano’s section of advanced research on regional climate models, based in Caserta. The contribution of the CMCC’s Supercomputing Centre (SCC) in Lecce was fundamental, representing one of the most powerful computing infrastructures in Europe and the only one in Italy exclusively dedicated to studying climate change. Thanks to advanced computing tools and the work of researchers, CMCC can use high-resolution models that provide climatic information regarding the city of Lecce and its urban territory. These colored stripes represent an advanced point in climate research capable of offering a sort of “barcode”, a detailed visual description of how the city is warming in the context of climate change.

But why do we need to know how the city’s temperature is changing? Because many other aspects of city life are linked to the city’s average annual temperature: the hotter it gets, the more we know we have to face climatic conditions that can bring problems and challenges to human health, as in the case of heatwaves, water scarcity with consequences for tourism and agriculture, surges in energy consumption to cool environments during very hot periods. These are examples that remind us that if the climate changes, the whole city changes. It is our task, as citizens, to contribute to changing it so that it is ready for the climate we expect.

During the festival, also in collaboration with CMCC, there will be public discussions on “Journalism, science, and knowledge: Pietro Greco’s lesson“ with Marino Sinbaldi, Elisabetta Tola, and Mauro Buonocore (Friday, October 13, at 11 AM at the CMCC Foundation headquarters in Lecce), “Data, journalism, and scientific information“ with Angela Morelli, Anna Pirani, Elena Testi, and Elisabetta Tola (Saturday, October 14, at 3:30 PM at Convitto Palmieri), and “Climate change and the future of cities“ (Saturday, October 14, at 5:45 PM at Convitto Palmieri) with Paola Mercogliano, Riccardo Luna, Carlo Salvemini, Edoardo Zanchini, and Paola Ancora.

From October 12 to 15, the festival Conversazioni sul futuro celebrates its tenth edition with a rich program of over 70 events featuring approximately 150 national and international speakers. In the six planned sections (Edu_care, Cinema, Taste, Books, Music, Talk), discussions will revolve around environment, activism, climate, communication, design, rights, economy, foreign affairs, journalism, photography, comics, language, music, history, and more. Conversazioni sul futuro is organized by the association Diffondiamo idee di valore, coordinated by Gabriella Morelli, in collaboration with the Apulia Region (operation financed under Por Puglia Fesr-Fse 2014/2020 – Asse VI Azione 6.8 – “Palinsesto PP-Tpp Puglia. Riscopri la meraviglia 2023”), the Apulia Regional Council (through the public notice “Futura. La Puglia per la parità”), Province of Lecce, Municipality of Lecce, University of Salento, PugliaPromozione, Teatro Pubblico Pugliese, Polo Biblio-Museale of the Apulia Region, and numerous public and private partners.

The official programme of the festival is available here.