‘The Green in…‘ Is a series of interviews with people who are nurturing green ideas within their daily lives, without giving up their day jobs.
The Green in…Joanne Sharkey – Q&A
What’s your personal elevator pitch/introduction?
I am the co-founder of an Australian social enterprise called Prickle Community Acupuncture. I also consult as a Chinese medicine practitioner in Beijing, China.
Tell me about an interesting green initiative you’ve heard about or worked on.
At Prickle, our mission is to provide acupuncture services that are affordable to everyone. We try and integrate sustainable practices into all areas of our practice even down to using sustainable clinical spaces. We do this by using existing medical spaces on the days the usual practitioners are not there. As medical spaces must satisfy certain hygiene standards, this saves a lot of resources and supplies making it more sustainable.
The Prickle team have also identified acupuncture and Chinese medicine as a very sustainable, cost effective, waste free form of alternative medicine.
How are you green in your daily life?
Growing up in a modest family in Country NSW, Australia provided me with a grass roots education on ways in which to lead a moderate lifestyle full of simple choices. These are some of the things I do:
- I buy second hand things, including, clothing, furniture, bicycles, kitchenware, fabrics. Sell or re-invent these items when I am done with them.
- I ride a bicycle or walk everywhere.
- I grow edible gardens and compost whenever possible, hopefully also leading to seasonal eating.
- Re-use water as many times as possible before letting it go down the drain.
How often do you think about green issues?
Every time I put the rubbish out or buy something new.
Who inspires the green in you?
My mother, my old Chinese neighbors all of whom seem to recycle or re-use everything they touch.
Green Articles, blogs or books you recommend…
When I was in Oz I listened to dirty deeds on Triple R radio every Sunday, this helped get the garden and compost blossoming.
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