A SCIENTIST turned artist is tackling climate change with some unlikely weapons – a pair of knitting needles and a ball of wool.

Clare Bryden will bring her ‘Particulart’ project to Abingdon today, where she will talk about knitting and the art of gentle protest.

Her project involves knitting the chemical structure of eight different greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide (one black knitted ball for the carbon atom, plus two red ones for oxygen), methane and nitrous oxide. Ms Bryden, 46, grew up in Abingdon where her parents still live.

Now based in Exeter, she wanted to highlight the issue of climate change ahead of the United Nation Climate Change Conference which starts on November 30.

She said: “It’s fun. It’s getting a message across in a visual and tactile way. Not everybody reads words. It is comfortable and non-threatening. It makes people think again, it piques their interest because they don’t necessarily put knitting and climate change together.”

She will bring samples of her art to St Ethelwold’s House in East St Helen’s St at 7.30pm.

The event will be hosted by Abingdon Carbon Cutters, part of the Transition Network, a national charity which encourages local communities to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.