PEOPLE across the world are contributing to a patchwork protest organised by a Darlington artist.

A huge patchwork blanket will soon be hand-delivered to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, taking place in Paris this December.

Environmental campaigner and artist Louise Graham, from Darlington, reached out to the global community for help in putting together the blanket – a visual representation of climate change.

Patches have been created by scores of individuals and groups hoping to have their views on global warming acknowledged by world leaders.

Handmade expressions of concern have been pouring in from across the world while the creative talents of the local community have also been put to good use in the creation of the blanket.

In spearheading the project, 44-year-old Ms Graham has hosted a number of workshops in schools and community venues across Darlington while encouraging others to harness their creativity in a bid to make a difference.

She said: “I heard climate change being talked about in terms of a blanket effect rather than global warming and it captured my imagination.

“These gases that come out when we burn fossil fuels go into the atmosphere and act like a big blanket to stop the heat from escaping and that’s why the world is warming up.

“It’s a simple concept that helps people understand climate change and how important it is – just a couple of degrees increase in temperature globally can have an array of huge consequences for everybody.”

Ms Graham will stitch together the patches to form a huge blanket that will be taken to a climate change protest in London in June, onto Paris and later, into art galleries.

Urging people to join in and create a patch she said: “It’s not difficult, you don’t have to be a fantastic sewer, you can do it in a lot of different ways and anybody can do this.

“It’s about taking a little bit of time to think about the consequences, of what will happen if we don’t do anything about this.

“This blanket will be a piece of social history and it will show world leaders and decision makers that ordinary people around the world have woken up to this issue and want them as people with power to change things for the better.”

For more information or to contribute to the project, email wakinguptoclimatechange@gmail.com.