In the aftermath of the Ondoy tragedy, Marikina is fortifying their walls – but not with an extra layer of cement or concrete. Marikina is painting their walls to mitigate climate change.

Just recently, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF-Philippines), the Global Campaign for Climate Action (GCCA), the local government of Marikina and Pacific Paint (BOYSEN^®) mounted a 200-sqm mural in the walls fronting Marikina River – an area which the organizers noted to have borne grim testament to the destructive effects of climate change.

The event coincided with the Copenhagen Climate Deal, a conference which the WWF considers as the most important global council meeting on climate change to date. Here, world leaders are set to craft a successor to the Kyoto protocol which expires in 2012.

“Ondoy taught us a painful and very expensive lesson. With climate change, no one is ever exempt,” noted Liesl Lim of the WWF-Philippines Climate Unit. Citing the Marikina Riverbanks as an example, she explained that coastal zones and flood prone areas along river banks and lake shores are likely to be affected. But since the impact of climate change are dynamic, less vulnerable areas and sectors can be affected as well.

“Are we prepared to adapt to this nebulous, aggressive future? Clearly not. But, it’s never too late to work pro-actively.”

True enough, the 200-sqm mural painted by the country’s top mural artists turned into a provocative statement against climate change. But because the mural was painted entirely with BOYSEN^® KNOxOUT™, the Riverbank walls were turned into an actual line of defense against the effects of climate change.

BOYSEN^® KNOxOUT™, the first air cleaning paint in the world, is one of the only proven way for people to take air pollution such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) out of the air. NOx and VOCs are the two components of smog, or ground level ozone, which is harmful to humans, plants and animals.

According to the new research by scientists at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), ozone was responsible for one-third to half of the observed warming trend in the Arctic during the 20^th century.

KNOxOUT™ is a green technological breakthroough that can help mitigate the impact by reducing air pollutants that produce smog. In a trial conducted at the Guadalupe MRT Station, the KNOxOUT™ painted on the station walls was found to clean the air of the exhausts of over 30,000 vehicles passing by the area daily.

WWF’s Lim believes that climate mitigation must be institutional – and that solutions such as switching to energy-efficient appliances, reducing consumption and using smarter, greener materials can go a long way in helping Filipinos fight climate change.

“Many Filipinos would like to do their share to fight air pollution and climate change,” noted Johnson Ongking, vice-president of Pacific Paint (BOYSEN^®) Philippines, “KNOxOUT™ empowers them to improve the environment by doing something as simple as painting their walls.”
- Courtesy of Manila Bulletin