PowerSwitch

Across the UK, shops that have been abandoned by big chains are becoming hubs for tackling the climate crisis. “We want to reach out beyond the ‘climate bubble’,” says Ben McCallan, chair of the Zero Carbon Guildford charity, in Surrey, which runs ZERO, one of a new wave of climate hubs up and down the UK. McCallan and fellow volunteers managed to get a meanwhile (temporary) lease on a 16,000sq ft town centre premises that had been empty for three years. They spruced up the rundown former New Look shop, and ZERO opened in November 2021. The charity is focused on building a community climate action plan, using local solutions to tackle a global crisis. ZERO’s aims are threefold: to educate, by reaching out to people who aren’t already taking action on the climate; to offer practical solutions, particularly local ones, to help the community cope with fragile supply chains; and to build mental health and wellbeing support frameworks.

Continues....