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| Munni-Morteratsch Glacier Morteratsch Glacier, Bernina Range, Switzerland, 5 September. Photograph: Munni/Blipfoto |
Blipfoto members, or ‘blippers’, choose to record a single photo from their day.
This unique community of photographers enjoy recording life as they see it.
Perspectives on climate are often presented as ad hoc events so it’s not often we get to see a global perspective of public opinion and perception.
We look back at a selection of photos and snippets of day-to-day reflections on climate change from some of their 2021 journals.
Questioning, observing, acting and responding - it’s a compelling insight into everyday views on climate change.
The gallery was put together at Blipfoto by Rebecca Cole and Richard Hunt-Smith.
| Justa Walkin’ the Dog Blackheath, New South Wales, Australia 2 January  |
| Almost a year after describing ‘a horror day for bushfires, especially in Victoria and southern NSW’, you’ll understand why this photo represents much more than an image of a rainy day to blipper member Trisharooni. She wrote: ‘It’s wet, wet, wet, and forecast to continue all week. Not complaining really, not after last year, but it’s going to mean a lot of work in the garden when it eventually stops.’ Unfortunately, we’ll hear more about this later ... … |
| It’s here! Mississippi, US 15 February  |
| Blipper Loveeveryminute records: ‘Arctic temps. But it’s so pretty. And yes, we are in our jammies! Out here nobody cares. We usually get the same storms that come through Texas. I talked to my cousin on the TX/Mexican border and they have had crazy cold temps. More ice and freezing rain coming Wed and Thursday. This is unusually cold for us. But I do love the cold. Be safe!’ Photograph: loveeveryminute/Blipfoto |
| Liming Bärstadt, Hesse, Germany 15 March  |
| Blipper Munni noticed a helicopter over the next hill, dumping white stuff all over the landscape. She explained in her journal that the helicopter pilot was liming the forest: ‘I had already read about it in our local newspaper. The reason being the high level of air pollution which makes the forest soil more acidic and kills the trees which are already damaged by the drought. Whether it helps to save the remaining trees, we’ll probably know in a year or two.’ Photograph: Munni/Blipfoto |
| Poppies in Les Corts Barcelona, Spain 28 April  |
| Digitaldaze tells the Blipfoto community about what is hopefully to become a permanent features of the Catalan city: ‘Wild flowers in a park/garden just 2 mins from our front door. I love that the city council has allowed and nurtured spaces like this in the last year.’ Photograph: digitaldaze/Blipfoto |
| Scenes from hell Fabrezan, south of France 24 July  |
| Blipper Veronica was left feeling quite stressed by this scene: “A huge pall of smoke and the constant drone of Canadairs and Dashes since 1pm. A fire started near the autoroute around 10km away … 30C and windy ... it soon spread. When I went out for a walk at 4pm it didn’t look that menacing, but since then it’s got totally out of control … Walking out of the village at 6:30, I could see the flames on the ridge just beyond my favourite pylon as the fire raced towards Fabrezan.’ Photograph: Veronica/Blipfoto |
| The deluge Edinburgh, Scotland 4 July  |
| ‘This was an unusual amount of rain. I know storms like that from Germany. Infrastructure here is just not designed to cope with this amount of water. In Karlsruhe in Germany fillers on the tram tracks started to melt in the heat. The trams were out of action for a week or so. This is what climate change looks like. We get more extreme weather that our infrastructure struggles to cope with. We also need to stop burning fossil fuels. The sooner the better. Photograph: magi/Blipfoto |
| Kahurangi Falls South Island, New Zealand 19 July  |
| It makes for a pretty photo but blipper TeeJay puts it in perspective: ‘This waterfall is usually a tiny trickle that is about a 20th of this size. The phenomenal rains that have hit the top half of the South Island over the past 72 hours has turned it into a raging torrent. The road to Murchison finally opened last night so I was able to come through today. (Most highways in the top half of the South Island [have been] closed. Slips, flooding and accidents.)’ Photograph: TeeJay/Blipfoto |
| Hot, hot, hot East Kilbride, Scotland 20 July  |
| You may be thinking white-washed Mediterranean village but we are in Scotland here, says Blipper Croftcrafts. ‘I haven’t experienced heat like this since I was in Nigeria. As the forecast said 26 degrees for East Kilbride, I went out this morning to buy a fan … When I got home I had to build it. All fine ’til I came to the last little screw when I dropped it and couldn’t find it so had to improvise with a piece of wire. A crofter will never be stuck! I sat out with my umbrella and fan but it was still too hot.’ Photograph: Croftcrafts/Blipfoto |
| Cheap thrills for the elderly Portland, Oregon, US 1 August  |
| Sometimes a picture (or a blip!) really does paint a thousand words: ‘Cheap thrills for the elderly.’ That’s what Sue said as she stood over the mister on a Sunday afternoon, the 1st of August, 91F/ 33C. A great relief to have a good belly laugh.’ Photograph: kendallishere/Blipfoto |
| Morteratsch Glacier Bernina Range, Switzerland 5 September  |
| Blipper Munni describes shock at this view: “The last years have taken their toll on the glacier like nothing before. The path now ends in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing to see but a rocky cliff, and water flowing down from somewhere on top of it - where the glacier now ends. That’s more than a kilometre from where I saw it once.” Photograph: Munni/Blipfoto |
| The great white hope Worcestershire, England 27 September  |
| Blipper Mooncoin is perhaps not sure, leaving us with this single sentence accompanying this eyecatching photo: “Prepare to be disappointed.” There are often two sides to a story. Photograph: mooncoin/Blipfoto |
| Flooding Dumfries, Scotland 28 October  |
| Unknowingly, yet pertinently, this happened 12 days later: “The rain has finally stopped but not before causing chaos in Dumfries and surrounding areas, it caused traffic chaos and some businesses will be affected by flooding. You see and hear the power of the water thundering down river and it is quite scary, but I decided to show this side street where this car has been left behind.” Photograph: SkyAboveMe1/Blipfoto |
| Bug hunting Somerset, England 21 October  |
| Blipper JDO was surprised to discover that the common green shieldbug (palomena prasina), although native to the UK was once confined to southern England adding: “It’s yet another beneficiary of climate change, and is now marching steadily northwards. In its wake, another species, the southern green shieldbug, is moving into the south of the country from the Continent, but as far as I know that one hasn’t yet reached the Shire.” Photograph: JDO/Blipfoto |
| Ferpecle Valley and Mont Mine Switzerland 24 October  |
| “You can see the U shaped valley that cradled the much reduced Mont Mine Glacier. My friend remembers when it came to the valley floor just 40 some years ago! Today was definitely about the colours: golden larch trees, white glaciers and blue skies, the perfect day to visit this area.” Photograph: HilarysView/Blipfoto |
| 100,000 demand action now! Glasgow, Scotland 6 November  |
| Blipper richard describes his feelings about the demonstrations: “Powerful, sobering, good natured. This is what peaceful protest looks like.” Photograph: richard/Blipfoto |
| Which is the greater threat? Collaroy Beach, NSW, Australia 4 November  |
| Blipper Samagainplease has been recording the building of their local wall in his journal with mixed emotions. On this day, he wrote: “This area of the beach is unsafe due to recent erosion. Exposed rocks in the water and on the beach. They missed a few other adjectives before ‘erosion’. Things like ‘persistent, predictable, regular, ongoing, relentless’. “Intellectually, I get the need for safety in the workplace etc etc, from an immediate threat, but the juxtapositioning of these two signs give me an unjustifiable feeling akin to sheltering under desks during the cold war.” Photograph: samagainplease/Blipfoto |
| Shipwrecks in the bog Ilkley Moor, Yorkshire, England 18 December  |
| With mixed feelings on the UK government’s drive for protecting nature, on Ilkley Moor in West Yorkshire, positive change is happening in this eerie scene: Blipper WharfedaleBex wrote: “I’ve been wanting to check out the bog restoration going on up here. Lots of sphagnum moss has already been planted to encourage peat formation on the moors and now you can see small dams have been installed which already look like they’re working to re-wet the peatland. It’s a real lift to see something positive like this happening on your doorstep.” Photograph: WharfedaleBex/Blipfoto |
| Dystopian December Edinburgh, Scotland 23 December  |
| Blipper Rowanhagdorn saved a series of images during the last month of the year titled dystopian December, making thought-provoking and sometimes ironic observations such as this: “The link between coronavirus and ski-ing has made it so uncool that skis are being binned. Maybe it’s better to chuck them now before climate change stops it.” Photograph: rowanhagdorn/Blipfoto |
| One perfect rose Somerset, England 27 December  |
| “I know it’s only two days since I was celebrating the fact that the solitary bees could be emerging just a couple of months from now, but I do find it worrying that my Iceberg rose is still flowering in the last week of December. The name has started to look uncomfortably ironic.” Photograph: JDO/Blipfoto |
| New Year’s Eve? Sheringham, Norfolk, England 31 December  |
| Throughout the year, photographers on Blipfoto have noticed and commented on climate change. The last day of the year was no exception. 2021 finished with a record-breaking high temperature and blipper Bom wrote on New Year’s Eve: “Another weirdly warm temperature with a max per my weather station of 14.6°C, no wonder the ice cream shop decided to open in Sheringham and had several takers. There was heavy rain again this morning, making 2.74 inches of rain for Dec – that might not be a lot for most areas, but it’s 50% higher than our Dec average and with only two sunny days.” Photograph: Bom/Blipfoto |
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