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Each month we will ask a new eco-maven 18 questions about his or her life, occupation and advice for other like-minded people. This month we were able to sit down with Angela Sun, host of “Yahoo! Sports Minute” and director/producer for the independent documentary film Plastic Paradise.
1. What is your name:
Angela Sun
2. What is your occupation?
Sportscaster, TV Host, Documentary Filmmaker behind Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
3. Do you have a “green” memory growing up?
I think my best green memory was being part of our 8th grade musical that was based on saving the planet. We sang a song about recycling that I still remember the tune and lyrics to today! I also remember being super motivated after riding the “earth train” during earth week to Gilroy with my sister for an event when I was in 6th grade. She was working on the PR campaign so we had VIP seating and it was my first time on a steam locomotive!
4. What’s your favorite meal?
I’d have to say I enjoy proper molecular gastronomy and although people may say deconstructed elements in food are too bourgeois, my dad always used to say “presentation is key”. So I enjoy a good looking meal that surprises the senses for special occasions. But my typical favorite meal is a good sushi dinner, specifically sugar fish in LA!
5. Who/What inspires you to be more “green” in your life?
My grandfather lived a full and long life of 105 years and passed away last year. He was one of the most eco-conscious souls I knew. He would want to reuse and save every little thing. He immigrated to the US with very little and understood the value of saving everything.
6. Where on the “green scale” do you fall?
I would fall on the moderate greeny. I would say I’m an accidental activist, as I sought out to tell a good story and while doing so, with the knowledge I walked away with, I couldn’t just sit idle as I want to protect my surroundings as well for the future generations.
7. What are the most rewarding and most challenging parts of your job?
The audience members I speak with after each screening inspire me to be more “green” in life. You can’t just talk a good game and not live it. Especially when younger students approach me and are all fired up about changing their behavior and views on consumption, that really gives me the energy to keep up the rigorous schedule of promoting an indie documentary with very little funding. I write this at 3:20am, as I usually average 3-4 hours of sleep a night lately working on this.
8. Where’s your “greenspot” Food, bodycare/beauty, oceans, home or neighborhood, explain:
Looking for the green flash! Sunsets over the ocean. Some of my favorite colors come together at that time of day and the array of hues displayed in the sky as the sunsets can make any bad day immediately better. I love chasing them and I have a collection of sunsets from around the world, but my favorite sunset is over the Pacific Ocean. I guess that’s fitting since my last name is Sun..:P
9. Where do you turn for your news?
BBC, NY Times, LA Times, Economist, Vice, Social Media, Colbert Report, Daily Show, NPR
10. What is one environmental change you vow to make in the next year?
To impact young and old to take action to REFUSE before you reduce, reuse, recycle and to activate them in innovative ways for change in their communities and campuses. (i.e. #BYOC) Personally, to drive less.
11. If you could trade places with one person from any time in history (past or present) for one day—who would it be and why?
Toss up between Joe Montana during Superbowl XXIII against the Bengals with the game winning come from behind 11 play, 92-yard drive for the title! And Michael Jordan-because I wanna see what it would be like to fly.
12. You have a meeting with the leader of every country in the world. You have 30 seconds to tell them anything you want. Go!
Just because we can’t see beneath the surface doesn’t mean that it is not there. Our oceans are our life source and it’s become our biggest garbage dump. I urge you to recognize the integral importance of what covers over 70% of our planet as a necessity for survival, through education, legislation and action. Investing in informative non-biased media to educate citizens of the world, funding scientific research and studies as well as innovation, and creating an international task force focused on ocean issues. It is not just legislation of marine protected areas (MPAs) that are necessary, but enforcement of law when it comes to illegal practices such as overfishing, shark finning, and dumping that will lead to change. The air we breathe and the food we eat comes from our precious resource of the oceans and we must come together putting international differences aside to move towards a sustainable future. Not only do our climates depend on it, but our livelihood depends on what we do right now.
13. You have the chance to send one tweet to all the tweeps in the world. Let’s hear it in 140 characters, or less!
Be impeccable with your word, don’t take anything too personally, trust your instincts, always do your best, don’t make assumptions, uplift others. (I think that’s more than 140 oops)
14. If there was one industry/product that you could make more eco-friendly, what would it be?
Plastic! There are some eco-alternatives but many of those are greenwashing and just pacifying the public to consume more.
15. Where in the world would you most like to be right now?
On a white sand beach in the Maldives or Bora bora Tahiti with a fresh coconut in hand, ocean breeze, and a hammock to take a nap in.
16. What is the best book you have read recently?
Honestly, I haven’t had time to read. Sleeping is a luxury these days. I have a long laundry list of books that are on my nightstand including Lean In, Wheelmen…
17. What makes you cringe?
Spiders. They also make me scream, cry, swear (which I never really do), and sweat
18. What do you want your legacy to be?
Kids. I’ve spent 8 years married to this film, and poured almost a decade of my life into creating, promoting, and sharing it. It’s been a great ride but one of the most important things in life to me is family. As much as I travel and as independent and self-sufficient as I am, I do want to have kids and a family life. At the end of the day, all the accolades in the world are not as important as the people you love and who love you back. Part of that is protecting the a future for them, which is why I am passionate about the environment around us. I see so much of my parents’ characteristics in myself, my dad left behind 3 of us kids when he passed away 16 years ago, and I hope I made him proud.
