Power to the People

At her home on Sixth Avenue in Park Slope, Tracy Fitz collects rainwater from the roof in huge rubber barrels as two small cats laze in the shade. The water is collected through a sophisticated system made from a modified drainpipe, which she'll use to water the plants in the yard, which include grapes, basil and budding kiwifruit.

Just down the street at 6/15 Green, a community garden at Sixth Avenue and 15th street, a pile of compost ripens in the sun, and a waterfall empties into a small goldfish pond. Two large, majestic solar panels almost smack in the middle of the garden glint in the sunlight.

Both Fitz's home and 6/15 Green are part of a more ecologically sustainable, environmentally friendly way of life which, Fitz hopes, she can guide Brooklynites towards adopting for themselves, through education and resources provided by CitySolar.

CitySolar is actually Fitz, who has been teaching and consulting since 1994. The earliest incarnation of CitySolar was formed at Manhattan's famously gritty East Village, where Fitz was a member of the 6BC Botanical Garden, and where "guerrilla" gardening first took root.

Since then, she's been educating and consulting independently, at her home and at 6/15 Green, to help New Yorkers integrate green energy into public and private spaces, giving workshops and acting as a consultant to those attempting to convert to solar power, "hopefully someday reducing our footprint to zero," she said. 

She also acts as a private consultant, working with installers to help those looking to convert their homes transition more easily and cost-effectively.

"When people want something done they can call me up and I can connect them with the right thing," she said.

Fitz also helped design the Solar Arbor and the solar powered "Godzilla's Place" Ponds and Falls at 6/15 Green, where she implemented solar power in 2001 as a memorial for deceased garden member Kathleen Usadi. Currently, Fitz is working with grants from ConEd and IOBY to install an equipment cabinet top, additional solar panels, and a "green roof" to cover the cabinet top.

6/15 is, of course, open to the public through membership, and accepts donations via a charming, handpainted "Solar Donations" box. Through "peaceful cooperation," Fitz's goal through the solar program at 6/15 Green is to offer "a place to learn and care for ourselves and the others including fish, plants, birds, worms, water, soil, air, and grow in our appreciation for the sun."

In an upcoming, all-day hands-on workshop, Fitz will instruct a group how to assemble a 60-watt, 12-volt solar electric panel using solar cells, wire, solder, aluminum, glass and silicon.

Fitz's own home is a model for progress. Aside from utilizing solar power where possible, and in some cases installing fixtures that operate "off the grid" —for example, a solar powered LED ceiling fixture controlled by an AC/DC switch —every crack is sealed, every empty wall or ceiling space is insulated. All the walls and ceilings are painted white, which she says reduces her need for indoor artificial light during the day.

Skylights also reduce the need for electric lighting, trash is composted, and non-potable rainwater collected from the roof is used for gardening.

Converting exclusively to green energy is, of course, not a viable option for most New Yorkers, who rent, rather than own, their own homes, and may not have the money, the means, or the permission to convert their spaces.

For this, Fitz offers up practical advice for the rest of us: "seal all leaks in your home, even cracks around electrical outlets, with caulk, to keep warm or cool air in, use fluorescent lighting instead of standard lightbulbs, and unplug appliances that use 'phantom power' when not in use," she advised.

She suggests converting to a high-efficiency toilet if possible, but if not, meet the environment halfway by simply following the old adage, "if it's yellow, let it mellow," and common-sense methods such as always making sure lights are turned off when leaving a room.

The simplest solution for utilizing more green energy for most New Yorkers though, she says, "is to pay a little more for electricity," through ConEd's Solutions program, for example. Fitz said she started at about sixteen cents per kilowatt hour but now pays ten cents—one or two cents more per kilowatt hour above the cost of standard electricity. 

This of course, Fitz says, pays for itself in the end by cutting down our environmental costs. 

"If we cut down on the amount of electricity we use, we'll cut down on the amount of gas, coal, and nuclear energy needed to create that electricity, and we'll cut down on Co2 and greenhouse gases," she said.

Currently, at the forefront of the environmental consciousness is hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," as it's commonly known, a method of extracting oil and natural gas from rock, such as shale. Exempted from the Clean Air and Clean water act during the Bush Administration, fracking comes at a huge environmental cost, contaminating the air, water and soil—and now parts of New York State are being considered for this type of drilling.

To that effect, CitySolar has aligned itself with the anti-fracking movement. Fitz will be supporting several anti-fracking protests, including a rally on Friday, June 25 in Foley Square in Manhattan to warn about the dangers of fracking to New York's water supply and urge Governor Cuomo to support a ban.

"We are UNITED against drilling," announces Gasmain.org, the "official site" of the "Day against Fracking."

Back in Brooklyn, Fitz cleans the fish pond at 6/15 Green with a small net and picks some fresh arugula out of the ground. As she tends to the garden and tells its story, she emphasizes importance of a collective effort by New Yorkers, despite costs, to try to move toward helping to one day establish a green energy standard, driving down costs and making green energy accessible and affordable for everyone.

"We need a national solar energy policy, which we do not have. We need a national solar standard, which we do not have," she said.

Still, for the environmentally conscious, Fitz says, New York City is a great place to be, and 6/15 Green is a perfect example. Once destined to become a garage, this patch of land now grows fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs—a triumphant return to nature through "guerrilla" gardening, donations, education and local activism.

We still have a long way to go, says Fitz, but here, the seeds of change have been planted.

"The point of CitySolar is to empower people on an individual basis, so they feel they can make a difference in their own lives, through their own actions," said Fitz.

"The environment and the Earth are beings, as we are," said Fitz, "All the fish and the birds and the plants and bugs and dirt—everything belongs here."

For more information on upcoming CitySolar workshops and the 6/15 Green community garden, visit CitySolar.org and 615Green.org.