Literally melting? There are climate emojis, or climojis, for that

Searches for “flood”, “storm”, “pollution” throw up nothing in the existing Unicode emoji library. An independent project is helping plug that gap.

Emojis for the experience and anxiety of living amid the climate crisis have so far been limited to cutesy icons depicting a fluffy cloud, a bright umbrella, or a person rather gamely sporting a mask. Searches for “flood”, “storm” and “pollution” throw up nothing. A search for drought throws up a friendly looking cactus.

Climojis for "composting" and "starving polar bear".

As things stand, other than the new emoji of a leafless tree (which is intended to denote the increasing incidence of drought), icons of the natural

(Clockwise from top) Climojis for forest fire, fossil fuels, flooding, diversity loss, multi-species friendship, and public transport.

The Climoji project was set up by US-based artists Marina Zurkow and Viniyata Pany in 2018, along with students and faculty at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University (NYU). Zurkow is a mixed-media artist whose work focuses on the intersection of nature, technology and culture. Pany is an artist and experience designer.

With funding from the NYU Green Grant, awarded to initiatives that seek to foster environmental literacy, community engagement and conservation, the icons were developed in a series of workshops with students and professors at the Tisch school.

The hope, the founders have said, is that these emojis, particularly the resilience ones, will spark conversations, perhaps even action, and eventually become as common “as smiley faces and high-heeled shoes”. Which one best describes the year you’ve had, or a change you wish to make? Write in and let us know.