Coming together for a healthier planet

A day to reconnect with nature

The latest Spring team building for the EU team was not only about bringing Scilifers together.
It was also about bringing everyone a little closer to the planet we share.

Away from the usual rhythm of meetings, screens, messages, and deadlines, the team stepped into a different kind of workspace. One with trees, open air, natural materials, and a simple invitation: to slow down, observe, and get hands-on with something meaningful.

The activity had three main parts. First, we built birdhouses and insect hotels. Then, we created Nendo dango seed balls to support reforestation. And lastly, we took part in an educational session designed to raise awareness about the environment, biodiversity, and the role each of us can play in protecting it.

It was practical, playful, caring, and, in a very Scilife way, deeply human.

To give us a closer look at what the activity involved, Lucas Johnston, Scilife’s Social Media Specialist and Community Manager, shares how the team brought this Scilife for Good experience to life.

Homes for birds, hotels for insects

A birdhouse can be seen as a small thing, and so can be an insect hotel. But in a world where natural habitats are increasingly under pressure, small things can matter.

The activity offered the team an immersive way to understand how biodiversity depends on many forms of life that often go unnoticed. Birds that help balance ecosystems, pollinators that support plant life, insects that quietly contribute to soil health, food systems, and the natural cycles that make all of that life possible.

More than a craft activity, building these little shelters became a reminder of this wondrous symbiosis.

The planet is not protected only through big ideas or distant policies. It is also protected through the decisions people make close to home. In gardens, neighborhoods, shared spaces, and the small corners where nature is given room to thrive.

As the birdhouses and insect hotels began to take shape, the team could see the impact of their work almost immediately. What started as pieces of wood became shelters where birds and insects could one day nest, rest, and thrive.

There was something deeply grounding about that.

In a company where so much of the work is digital, strategic, and complex, this activity brought everyone back to something very simple: using your hands to make something better than it was before.

Catherine Kolar, CS Solutions Consultant at Scilife, takes us inside one of the most hands-on moments of the day and shares her experience building birdhouses and insect hotels to help create small shelters for local wildlife.

The quiet magic of Nendo dango

Then came the Nendo dango, which are small seed balls made from clay, soil, and native seeds, shaped by hand and designed to support reforestation in a natural and low-intervention way.

At first, it looked almost like child’s play. A bit of clay, a bit of soil, seeds folded into the mixture, and hands rolling everything together into these small spheres.

However, each seed ball represented something well beyond the activity itself: a chance for native plants to take root where they're needed most. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, yet capable of becoming part of a healthier landscape.

Of course, it is not guaranteed that every seed ball will grow into a tree. Nature is more complex than that. However, each little Nendo dango ball represents an act of trust. You prepare it, you release it, and then you allow nature to do what nature does, in its own time.

For Scilifers, creating Nendo dango became a quiet, almost meditative part of the day. A moment to slow down and think about growth in a different way. Growth as something slow, natural, and to be nurtured. Something that starts small, disappears into the soil, and may one day return as life.

Scott Townsend, Account Executive at Scilife, walks us through what it was like to learn how to make Nendo dango seed balls, a traditional Japanese technique used to support the reforestation of areas at risk.

Learning to see the planet differently

For this activity, Scilifers searched the hotel's gardens for small panels featuring questions relating to nature, ecosystems and the climate change. Moving from one clue to the next, they collected hints, answered questions, and worked together to piece everything together as a team. Behind the playful format, the activity encouraged them to reflect more deeply on our relationship with nature and the importance of protecting it.

Through the awareness session, the team reflected on the importance of biodiversity, the fragility of ecosystems, and the impact of human activity on the natural world. It created space for questions, conversation, and the kind of learning that stays with people because it is connected to something they have just experienced with their own hands.

The session also offered a reminder that environmental awareness does not have to feel distant or abstract. It can begin with curiosity and the simple art of noticing. With understanding the role of even the smallest creatures in the balance of an ecosystem.

It can begin with a team spending a day together, learning that care for the planet is not only a value to support, but a practice to build.

For Fabiola Samueli, CS Solutions Consultant at Scilife, this Scilife for Good activity was a meaningful opportunity to give back to nature and reflect on how small collective actions can help create a more caring relationship with the planet we share.

Caring for the planet, the Scilife way

At Scilife, we believe that purpose is something people should be able to feel.

In the work we do, the teams we build, the communities we support. And in the world we help protect, one small action at a time.