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A Stitch in Time A tapestry merges science and art to raise the alarm for climate change
D
by
jimmy mcginley smith
uring the early Industrial Revolution a pithy aphorism was coined to express the urgency and practical need to address a problem: “A stitch in time saves nine.” The 18th century adage was brought to life this week by knitters and chrocheters from across the country, a collection of craftsmen and women that included 38 Philadelphia-area knitters, all stitching a colorful and cautionary message that our global climate is facing an environmental crisis. On Thursday, December 12th, the Schuylkill Center—located in the Roxborough section of the city—unveiled Philadelphia’s own “Tempestry Project,” an ornate band of tapestries that visualized—through knitted fibers—a portrait of global climate data. According to a statement from Christina Catanese, Director of Environmental Art at the Schuylkill Center, “It took thirty-eight volunteers knitting 750,000 stitches, about 8 miles of yarn, and countless hours to complete the collection.” Within each temperature tapestry or Tempestry, the daily high temperatures for a given year are shown from January to December. Each of the nationwide Tempestries use the same yarn and colors and temperature ranges, creating what Ms. Catanese described as a “globally comparable mosaic of shifting temperatures.” The Tempestries fit into a time frame 10 GR ID P H IL LY.CO M JA NUA RY 2020
stretching from the years 1875 to 2018, uniting crafters from around the world who have created hundreds of these similarly instructive and fluid temperature tapestries. At least four different scientific organizations that follow temperature trends have concurred: 2018 ranked as the fourth warmest year on record. The four research bodies, NASA, Berkeley Earth, the United Kingdom’s Hadley Centre and the Japan Meteorological Agency—accumulating
data based on varied methodologies—each arrived at the same alarming conclusions regarding the warming climate, bringing something close to unanimity on the data. Since the year 2000, according to NASA’S finding, 18 of the 19 warmest years have occurred globally, resulting in a variety of extreme weather conditions. In 2018 alone, hurricanes and wildfires claimed nearly 250 lives, costing nearly$100 billion in damages. Although the four research institutions P HOTO COURTESY O F L IZ J E LSOMI NE