Can you tell us a little about your organisation, what inspired you to start, and its role within the local community?
Sero is a Community Environment Centre that aims, not only, to educate and inform the community about the climate and environmental issues we are facing but to provide practical tools and services to help people make changes in their everyday lives.
Carmarthen Together, a group of environmentalists who wish to build resilience in the community and bring people together, realised there was a need for people to learn new skills and for practical and emotional support in these challenging times. It needed to be easily accessible and it had to demonstrate the type of circular economy that will be required, as we reduce our consumerist behaviour and recognise the value in local goods and services.
Visit the Sero website here
How has the UK SPF supported your organisation and what specific improvements or changes have you been able to make with the funding?
UK SPF is what enabled us to get the whole thing started. We were able to buy equipment for the centre plus items for the Library of Things, get projects started and, most importantly, employ people to run these services. Sero could not operate in the way that it does without paid staff, so the funding was absolutely vital.
We are constantly looking for ways to make our service more self sufficient in the longer term, but as so much of what we do is new to people, as a concept, we needed time to establish ourselves, which this funding has enabled.
What impact has this project had on the local community so far and how have they responded to the services/improvements you've made?
Sero is unique in Carmarthen and it challenges the consumerist norms that most people are used to. However, we have found that there is a real need for our service and we are continuing to build our customer numbers every month. None of the seven staff at Sero would have had jobs without the SPF funding and our ability to provide many of our services free of charge would not have been possible.
We only have one earth, so we are delighted that, thanks to this funding, there are a growing number of people in our community, who have the skills and confidence to live a more balanced life, where happiness is found in ways that don't exceed planetary boundaries.
