Close

Our Manifesto

LEARNING WHAT MATTERS
We believe learning should be fun, spark creativity, and make us better citizens that are more responsible for ourselves, our fellow human beings, our society, and our planet. Social, emotional and ecological issues are closely connected and need to be approached in a more holistic manner.

BUSINESS FOR GOOD
We are working towards a future where businesses turn into forces-for-good to help solve major socio-environmental issues such as inequality, illiteracy, and ecological destruction. We aim to influence business leaders to make the changes and bring about these much-needed improvements.

A HEALTHY TOMORROW
Our actions today define our tomorrow. The health of people and the environment is intricately linked. The future should be about better quality products, conscious consumption, and the responsible disposal of waste, so that both the planet and its people can be healthy.

  • Home
  • About
  • Services
  • Events
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Clients
  • Press & Media
  • Contact
Manifesto Green Initiatives Green Initiatives
  • EN
  • 中

Carpentry Workshop with Dulwich College Shanghai

Published on March 1, 2021 by Green Initiatives

Staff from Dulwich College Shanghai gathered at Yangshe Village near Dianshan Lake on the 28th of February to kick off their new year with a team-building activity. They chose to challenge themselves, get their hands dirty and learn a new skill by participating in a carpentry workshop organized by Green Initiatives and Lakeside Commune.

 

 

Discarded Wood – Trash or Treasure?

 

The local village has plenty of old wooden planks, slabs, and used furniture that is regularly discarded by the village inhabitants, which would usually end up in the trash, burnt as firewood, or remain lying around to disintegrate slowly in nature. All very inefficient uses of wood that is still in perfectly usable condition.

Green Initiatives use this opportunity to bring city dwellers to the countryside and teach them a new skill, make them aware of local arts and culture, and provide local village residents with economic opportunities.

The Carpentry Workshop

In our latest team-building workshop, the group from Dulwich College participated in this carpentry session and learned to build furniture using discarded wood, the old fashion way without using any power tools. This session was focused on precision cutting and molding wooden wedges to interlock and form free-standing structures.

The group warmed up and learned some basic carpentry skills with a trial session of measuring and marking, sawing, planning, chipping, and hammering.

The local carpenter patiently guided the group as they went on their mini-project of building a small stool. Since this workshop focused on building interlocking joints, without the use of nails; one miscalculated error or saw in the wrong direction meant redoing the entire piece of wood from scratch.

There were moments of excitement, happiness, frustration, laughter, and finally a sense of achievement as they proudly held up their final completed product. All in all, a great team effort with each one encouraging and covering for others, whenever needed.

Local Village Life

After an inspiring session of using their hands and pushing themselves to new limits, the group settled down to a delicious home-cooked vegetarian meal prepared by one of the villagers, made with some of the locally grown vegetables.

After a satisfying lunch, they took a slow boat ride around the beautiful Dianshan Lake in one of the traditional hand-operated cement boats, once again led by one of the local villagers. An ideal way to wind down the afternoon and prepare to head back to the city.

About Lakeside Commune

 

The Lakeside Commune located at the beautiful Dianshan Lake, in the suburbs of Shanghai is a vibrant community that pays great attention to the sustainable development of the local ecology and culture and advocates a harmonious lifestyle with nature is at its center.

Through these workshops, Green Initiatives and LAC hope to educate people on how to co-exist with nature by experiencing traditional low carbon lifestyles, encouraging the spread of these eco-friendly traditions, and stimulating a relationship between humans and nature by understanding the idea of “Symbiosis with Nature.”


If you are interested in conducting similar team-building activities or willing to support Dianshan Lakeside Commune, please write to us at info@greeninitiatives.cn.

About Green Initiatives

We enable businesses to achieve measurable outcomes toward their sustainability goals.

About Our Work

To find out more about our achievements and partnerships, visit this link.

Subscribe to Newsletter

  • Our Services
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
Designed by Matter Developed by Calvin
沪ICP备16054688号 © 2023 Green Initiatives
QR Code