THE construction of an ecological home in Laoshan District that began in May has been completed. It was built by young volunteers from all over the country.

    “Our plan incorporates architecture, energy saving, planting, and manufacturing. We want to use our knowledge for good,” said an official in charge of the program.

    Another Land is a nongovernment public program, aiming at developing low-cost energy technology, organic agricultural technology and building a sustainable and ecological society. It was initiated by artist Tang Guanhua.

    They are now building a movable house with steel. Under the guidance of professional architecture experts, the volunteers built the ecological house with steel, trees, sand and second-hand plastic.

    Many volunteers are from the Ocean University of China. “It follows the ancient architectural techniques from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). We hope to use cheap, recycled materials to make it feel like a concrete house,” said Guan Hua, an architect.

    The young people also built a laboratory to make their own resources. In the laboratory, there are vegetable leaves that have been collected for fertilizer.

    “We use coconut oil to make soap, garbage and red sugar to make fertilizer. Because we don’t have tap water, we will disinfect the water from a well before drinking. We distil the salt we consume from sea water,” said a volunteer called Green Bean.

    Laoshan Mountain has abundant plant life. Volunteers use the plants to make dye for their clothes. “We try to make everything we use,” said Guan.

    In winter, they built a small green house in which to sleep.

    At present, there are more than 1,000 participants and the number is increasing every day.

    (Wang Yuanyuan, Wang Xiaoyu)