Climate Maps Can Leave Vulnerable Communities Unseen

WHO:

The Conversation - The researcher conducted a study with 34 social media users in the UK and Poland; the article does not give the researcher’s name.

The Conversation - Study participants described feelings including worry, fear, sadness, anger, concern, curiosity, surprise and pleasure after viewing climate data visualisations.

The Conversation - A meteorologist from Tonga who had lived in the UK encountered a warming-stripes visualisation and sought island-specific data.

The Conversation - The meteorologist shared the visualisation with colleagues, who decided to reproduce something similar using their own data.

The Conversation - Billions of people worldwide live in places and situations highly vulnerable to climate change, including parts of Africa and Asia and small Pacific islands.

Phys.org - The article describes people affected by climate disasters as experiencing impacts on their homes, families, livelihoods and places.

WHAT:

The Conversation - Climate data visualisations use colours, lines, bars, maps and animations to communicate changes such as warming, emissions, floods and fires.

The Conversation - The study showed participants climate data visualisations and asked how they felt and what they did with the information.

The Conversation - One participant initially called Poland’s warming-stripes visualisation “so pretty, nice and interesting”; after learning that red represented warmer temperatures and blue cooler temperatures, they found it upsetting.

The Conversation - The interactive warming-stripes visualisation did not provide accessible data for creating stripes for specific islands in Tonga.

The Conversation - The article says emotional responses could lead people to share information, discuss it, change everyday practices and sometimes engage more formally in politics; strong emotions alone did not automatically lead to action.

Phys.org - The article says disaster impacts are often encountered by distant audiences as figures for deaths, displacement, destroyed homes and infrastructure damage.

WHERE:

The Conversation - The study participants were in the UK and Poland; the warming-stripes example concerned Poland.

The Conversation - The meteorologist sought data for Tonga, particularly at the scale of individual islands; the visualisation included broad regional temperature changes across the Pacific.

Phys.org - Climate disasters may be experienced by people while audiences encountering the data are thousands of miles away.

WHY:

The Conversation - Global-scale accuracy did not ensure local visibility; the article says island-level information matters to communities such as Tonga, which contributes a fraction of global emissions yet bears substantial climate impacts.

The Conversation - The article argues that visualisations should be assessed for whose experiences they represent or omit, and whether audiences can identify actions available to them locally or nationally.

Phys.org - The article contrasts numerical accounts of disasters with their lived effects on people’s homes, families, livelihoods and places.

HOW:

The Conversation - The meteorologist first saw the warming stripes on social media, then tried the interactive version and asked whether stripes could be made for Tonga.

The Conversation - Participants reported both emotional responses and actions after viewing visualisations; a sense of agency helped determine whether people described taking direct climate action.

(UPDATED October 23, 2026 05:07 UTC)

A study of 34 social media users in the UK and Poland found that climate visualisations can prompt a range of feelings, but strong emotions don’t automatically lead to action. Participants described worry, fear, sadness, anger, curiosity and pleasure, and said they sometimes shared what they saw, discussed it or changed everyday habits. One participant first called Poland’s warming stripes pretty and interesting, then found them upsetting after learning red meant warmer temperatures. The study also highlighted a gap in global climate graphics: a meteorologist from Tonga sought warming stripes for individual islands, but the interactive tool offered only broad Pacific data. The meteorologist shared the graphic with colleagues, who chose to make a similar version using local data. Researchers say visualisations should show whose experiences are represented and help people identify actions they can take.