Charging Garden Spaces!
Gardens provide calm, healthy spaces - adding solar power cell charging stations will help keep the community safer during blackouts!
Leader
Colette Pean
Location
Livonia & Williams Brooklyn, NY 11208
About the project
Charging the Gardens! will bring solar powered electricity to four community gardens. Community residents will be trained to maintain and install these systems as well as support the ongoing gardening.
East New York, Brooklyn is home to over 50 community gardens, lovingly kept up by community residents. These spaces help mitigate the heat island affect in this densely populated community, where many people do not have air conditioning. They also provide fresh air and safe places for people to hold socially distant events. But these gardens are always in need of additional workers, especially because many of the most dedicated gardeners are seniors. The infrastructure of the spaces needs improvements and funds are often hard to come by. Our project, Charging the Gardens!, will bring solar powered electricity to four community gardens. Whereas the gardens know have to rely either on running extension cords from houses to power their lawnmowers and other tools or use fuel burning generators, the solar powered generators will provide clean, renewable electricity right in the gardens. In addition to powering tools, the generators will enable evening programs with sound, lights and even movie projection, allowing for additional participation by community members.
The Steps
Week one and Two: Four green champions will receive training in renewable energy. They will visit gardens and study where to best place panels.
Week Three: In partnership with garden groups green champions will support maintenance of spaces.
Week Four: Solar powered systems will be installed.
Why we‘re doing it
East New York is an economically and environmentally disadvantaged community. There are many industrial spaces and warehouses, it is a transit hub for trucks, and waste transfer stations resulting in poor air quality and very high rates of asthma. Housing is crowded; the many NYCHA projects have ongoing environmental issues, including mold and lead paint. Community residents are in need of more job development opportunities, especially in the developing green economy.
Charging the Gardens! will support a community based strength, the gardens; teach new skills to community residents and kick start East New York's participation in the Green Economy.