Over 100 climate-stripe scarves will be gifted to key MPs at Federal Parliament in Canberra by social justice organisation Common Grace. Fittingly this will be done on the winter solstice, June 21, which Common Grace is dubbing #ShowYourStripesDay.

Some MPs have already received their scarf, including Sydney-based Liberals Dave Sharma, Member for Wentworth, and Trent Zimmerman, Member for North Sydney.

“As we meet with key parliamentarians, we are asking them to #WearTheScarf and take action on climate change for our #CommonHome,” said CEO of Common Grace Brooke Prentis.

The organisation is also inviting members of the public to take action on the day by using social media to “send a powerful message to our MPs and Senators about the need for bold and urgent action on climate change to preserve and restore our common home, for the flourishing of all God’s creation”.

“It’s not just our parliamentarians. We have to look at each and every one of us, as peoples coming together … In all the different roles that we play in society, it’s up to each of us … ” said Prentis.

“We do want to imagine a different Australia – one that does have a safe climate. And so I hope that this scarf sparks, through its haunting beauty and its striking nature, the need to take more action.”

Dave Sharma, (Liberal) Member for Wentworth, NSW, is presented with a climate-stripe scarf by knitter Janet Paterson. Common Grace

The climate stripe scarves have been a long time in the making, with more than 600 knitters from across Australia taking part in this creative campaign.

The scarves represent a climate graph, with each stripe depicting one year in the history of global climate change over the past 101 years. They graphically show the warming of our planet as the stripes gradually move from blue colours at the start in 1919, to reds at the other end in 2019.

“The deep prayer and hope is that on one of the sitting days of Parliament in the winter months of 2021, that every parliamentarian is wearing the scarf,” Prentis told Eternity.

“… We hope that our parliamentarians will take just one simple action in wearing this scarf for creation and climate justice.

“Obviously, we need much more action, but this is a start. It’s a way that they can say ‘this is our community who we represent, and this is what we’re passionate about. And we want to help bring a change for our present, but also for the future so that we can have a safe climate for all.’”

The scarf presentation will be livestreamed from Canberra on Common Grace’s Facebook page, from around 9am on June 21.

Trent Zimmerman, (Liberal) Member for North Sydney, NSW is presented with a climate stripe scarf by knitter Helen Bathgate. Common Grace