VIBErations Episode 18 - Jenny Quinton

VIBErations podcast Ep 18. Jenny Quinton - Ark Eden Project Designer interviewed @ VIBE Book & Music Shop in Mui Wo on Lantau Island in Hong Kong on 23rd February 2021

https://www.arkedenonlantau.org

Jenny grew up in Cheshire in England and spent a lot of her childhood paddling in rivers and climbing trees. She started working part-time jobs when she was 12 so she could go on oversea adventures. She arrived in Hong Kong on a back-packing trip with her boyfriend in August 1989 and never left because she fell in love with Lantau. She has now been living in the same house in Mui Wo for 31 years.

Her wake up call for the environment happened a few years after she had been living here when she had to stop her house nearly burning down due to a vegetation fire started by grave sweepers. After that she joined lots of green groups and stood with them on the front-line trying to protect the environment. She also began planting trees. She set up the first English kindergarten in Mui Wo in 1991and then later worked with English Schools Foundation as a primary school teacher helping to set up their environmental systems.

She left ESF in 2006 to start Ark Eden and continued working with ESF as an Environmental Consultant for the next 10 years, organizing many conferences and events. In 2011 she did a Permaculture Design Certificate and got hooked and made permaculture a main focus of Ark Eden. Jenny is presently the Project Designer of Ark Eden and runs programs for children and adults in everything pertaining to saving the planet. She also has now planted over 36,000 native trees on Lantau and is very pleased when it rains.

She is training to become a yoga teacher so the children can do yoga in the forest. She is always working to save Lantau and the planet and her next dream is to create an outdoor forest school in her valley.

10 Questions

1. Favourite book or author? - 'A Permaculture guidebook to East Timor'

2. Favourite musical artist? - The Cure

3. Preferred drink? - Tea

4. Life motto? - Dream Big

5. Favourite hk walk? - Ark Eden

6. Favourite hk restaurant? - China Beach Club - Mui Wo

7. Faced with a python whilst walking up to the Peak – what would you do? - Avoid it and walk by carefully

8. Best advice you were given? - To chant

9. Finish this sentence… I live in Hong Kong because…because I totally love and believe in HK

10. Favourite area of Hong Kong? - My valley around Ark Eden