Creating cool spaces! New Everett mural combines art and climate to beat the heat!

The Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) invites you to check out a brand-new heat-reflecting mural at the Everett Recreation Center that helps protect the surrounding community from climate change by combatting the urban heat island effect. This public art installation was made possible with funding from the Everett Citizens Foundation in collaboration with the City of Everett and the Everett Recreation Center. The lead artist, Ashley Fitzgerald, worked with six Everett High School students to envision, create and paint the mural. The mural design showcases Everett’s youth and diversity through its bright colors and spells out “Everett” in American Sign Language.

The city of Everett is an urban heat island, which occurs when places have a lot of dark pavement and little green space. Heat from the sun absorbs into dark surfaces then radiates out at night, preventing cooler evenings that historically allowed people to escape the heat. More information about urban heat islands can be found at mysticriver.org/climate-resilience.

The new mural’s solar reflective coating is designed to prevent heat absorption. It demonstrates how painting surfaces a lighter color, or with a cooling sealant, can help combat the urban heat island effect.

MyRWA and the City of Everett are also implementing other cooling interventions, such as tree planting, shade structures and water fountains around the city.  You can check out the mural and stay updated on efforts to help Everett beat the heat at https://mysticriver.org/subscribe.

MyRWA builds shared solutions so that all people who live in the Mystic River watershed have safe and easy access to nature and a healthy environment. MyRWA believes that understanding the roots of current inequity, access to information and opportunities to learn about the natural world empower us all to work together for a better future.