• Sérafina

Sérafina

Card game developer and Earth lover

To see a world in a grain of sand

Sérafina is adamant about helping the environment in order to create a better world, and as time is of the essence, she believes teamwork is the way to go.

“It is not enough with just the adults doing their bit. If everyone in the whole world would help it would make a big difference, as there would be more people. Then we could save the planet soon.”

And she knows just how to do it. As a young daughter in an environmentally aware family who are developing their own sustainable science enterprise, Sérafina, a curious young girl, is eagerly looking at the world through an analytical green lens. “You know those grey doves that are in the city? They are not actually supposed to be grey. I didn’t know that until I saw a white one with grey patches. Their feathers have adapted to all the pollution from the factories and all the smoke. They may never become white again, but if we would clean the air the new ones might be.” 



Green goals

Sérafina wants a lush green world full of plants and animals. “If we don’t save the world it might become a horrible grey place. People would die without plants because we need the oxygen they produce. Without plants we wouldn’t have oxygen to breathe.” That is her main goal with working with MAINTENANT, to help save the world by making it greener. At the moment she is creating the MAINTENANT DIVERSITY DECK® Lithosphere Funbook with the help of a friend. She will also be selling the Funbooks and the MAINTENANT card games. “I will go to as many workshops as I can, and tell everyone about the Funbooks and our games.” 

Sérafina and her mum bouncing ideas off each other has proven to be very productive. One day Sérafina walked up to her mum and asked her to play a game with her, “and mum said ‘no, how about we make one?’ and that is how we created the DIVERSITY DECK®,” Sérafina says. “I get a lot of good ideas from my mom,” and she quickly adds, “and my dad sometimes. My dad is really good at taking out splinters. He’s trying to teach me how to take them out,” she says. “And when someone has a cut I want to help them, even when my mum says she will do it, I say ‘no, I know how to do it’. Mum says I act like a doctor, so if I don’t work for MAINTENANT when I grow up, I want to be a doctor.” A line of work that would not be straying too far from the environmental work she is doing now, as both professions ultimately entail helping those in need, and endangered animals are certainly in need of help. 

“I like the DIVERSITY DECK® Endangered Animals, because it says where the endangered animals live. So if you go there and you see one, you can tell people to save these animals or look after them,” Sérafina says. A particular favourite animal of hers is the vaquita, a small porpoise, one of the world’s most endangered animals. No one knows how many vaquitas there are left, in fact we could lose them forever as if nothing changes they will be extinct by 2021, something that concerns Sérafina greatly. “I picture searched the vaquita and the pictures were a bit scary, because one of them had been attacked and was on the shore, and an animal rescue worker was getting it. That was very sad.” Another endangered animal Sérafina loves is the axolotl, an aquatic salamander suffering from water pollution and drainage in their natural habitat. As well, they are considered a delicacy in Mexico, to where they are native. “I saw pictures of them fried as food. It looked disgusting,” Sérafina says emphatically.

Humans and animals exist in symbiosis

Sérafina sees the connection between nature, animals and humans very clearly. She knows how much we need each other and how important it is to live in harmony with each other. Life Below Water, one ofUN’s Sustainable Development Goals, is especially important to Sérafina, as the rubbish we throw in the water eventually comes back to harm us. “If there is too much plastic underwater the fish won’t be able to survive. If the fish eat it and are then caught by fishermen, we will eat the fish and the plastic within the fish, and we will get sick,” she says. 

Another Sustainable Development Goal that is important to Sérafina is Quality Education. “Everybody needs to have equal education,” she explains. “If people don’t think girls need education just because women don’t need jobs, that is not good.” The goals No Poverty and Zero Hunger are also close to Sérafina’s heart. “Imagine if there were a lot of people without houses because they were poor, and you stole all their money. They wouldn’t be able to live for long if they didn’t have things to keep them going.”

Sérafina has a lot of ideas on how to reach the Sustainable Development Goal Life on Land, as well as how to keep the planet clean and help the environment. “Adults need to use their cars less. It is silly to go in your car for short trips that can be made on foot.” She emphasises there are a lot of things children can do to help the planet. “Children can ask their parents to use their car less and to use less electricity. It also helps a lot to plant new plants.” Sérafina is waiting for an avocado seed she planted recently to start sprouting leafs. It is an easy task to do, according to Sérafina, simply put the seed in water and remove the brown peel. Place the seed in soil and have patience. “My favourite sphere is the biosphere because I love nature and I like planting, I want to save all the plants. We are planting new ones today, I have inspected where we should put them” she says. She advises other young people to save plants by making sure they get enough water, not too much, and by making sure that they are in the right place, “so they can grow without any problems.”

Being an environmental beacon of light, Sérafina likes to looks up recipes for groceries that are going out of date in the fridge, so as not to waste any food. She is very busy with school work, but in her spare time she likes to dance and spend time with friends. She is also having fun doing her work for MAINTENANT. “We at MAINTENANT have started a crowdfunding,” she says. “I am going to help out by giving some money with my dad’s card. I want to give £1,000, but I will see how much my dad will let me give.”

Sérafina’s favourites

Favourite sphere “The biosphere because I love nature.”
Favourite card game “I like a few. I like endangered animals, all the spheres and… Actually, I like all of them. I don’t have a favourite. I like them because they teach you at the same time as you are playing.”
Favourite animal “My favourite polar animal is the Husky. They always become useful at a point. Sometimes you lose your way, and the Husky can smell where someone is, so then they will go and see if you’re lost. They are very good at finding people.”
Favourite hobbies “Dancing, saving the world and being a doctor.”
Favourite school subject “For special subjects I am going to choose science and computing. If you learn how to do coding you can make your own company and use it to save the world.”

Goal 1 - No Poverty Goal 2 - Zero Hunger Goal 3 - Good Health and Well-Being Goal 4 - Quality Education Goal 5 - Gender Equality Goal 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation Goal 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy Goal 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth Goal 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure Goal 10 - Reduced Inequalities Goal 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities Goal 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production Goal 13 - Climate Action Goal 14 - Life Below Water Goal 15 - Life on Land Goal 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions Goal 17 - Partnerships

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