“The idea behind the initiative is to make a complex issue a bit easier to understand. The scale and time span of climate change can make it naturally very hard to conceive. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that sudden changes are significantly easier to react to than a phenomenon like climate change that spans over decades. We must try to find different ways of illustrating its effects,” says Kaius Niemi, Senior Editor-in-Chief, Helsingin Sanomat.
With the world coming to a grinding halt last spring, CO2 emissions dropped sharply. But come June, according to reports, the emissions had already surpassed the previous year’s level.¹ Regardless, it shows that it is possible to make a change quickly by radical action. That said, it is hard for people to tackle wide-ranging threats like climate change at the intensity seen last spring.² To illustrate climate change and its effects, Helsingin Sanomat is launching a configurable font. It is based on data collected from the ice cap of the Arctic Ocean. The font shows how the ice cap is projected to shrink due to climate change.
The climate font was developed to demonstrate the speed of climate change and the urgency of the measures aimed at slowing it down. The ice cap of the Arctic Ocean is used as an indicator of climate change because it reacts quickly to changes in temperature. The font’s profile varies according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Center’s 1979–2019 data and it will continue according to IPCC’s projection³ all the way to 2050.
“The idea behind the initiative is to make a complex issue a bit easier to understand. The scale and time span of climate change can make it naturally very hard to conceive. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that sudden changes are significantly easier to react to than a phenomenon like climate change that spans over decades. We must try to find different ways of illustrating its effects,” says Kaius Niemi, Senior Editor-in-Chief, Helsingin Sanomat.
“Understandably, the pandemic is currently very visible in the media but we can’t ignore the importance of climate action just because of that. That’s why we wanted to highlight the subject now.”
Implemented using the scalable OpenType technology, at its thickest, the font illustrates the size of the Arctic Ocean’s ice cap in 1979, when NASA started using satellites to measure it. At its thinnest, the font represents IPCC’s projection, according to which the ice cap will have reduced to 30% of its 1979 mass by the year 2050.
“We look at the font as a new form of journalistic storification that supports our recent investments in data-driven journalism. However, the font is not intended to be used only in Helsingin Sanomat. Anyone can download it for free. We hope that this will encourage other operators to use it,” says Tuomas Jääskeläinen, Art Director, Helsingin Sanomat.
Anyone can openly download the font for free. Coinciding with the font, Helsingin Sanomat will also publish a collection of news articles regarding climate change from 1979–2020. The collection depicts the way our attitudes towards climate change have changed over the years with regard to its speed and the deteriorating ice situation.
Climate change has been an important topic for Helsingin Sanomat for many years. In 2019, the newspaper appointed a climate correspondent to report on climate developments and the future of our climate. That same year, Helsingin Sanomat also donated specially made pens to MPs and global decision-makers to remind them of the urgency of climate decisions.
You can read more about the font at www.TypeToAct.com
For the collection of climate change articles from 1979–2020, go to www.hs.fi/ilmastofontti.
More information:
Tuomas Jääskeläinen, Art Director, Helsingin Sanomat
tuomas.jaaskelainen@hs.fi
Phone: +358 (0)50 414 4340
¹ BBC:n artikkeli: UN report: Covid crisis does little to slow climate change
² BBC:n artikkeli: How brain biases prevent climate action
³ IPCC:n raportti: Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate