Ten years ago, investigative journalist, sports presenter, travel writer, diver and one-time professional surfer, Angela Sun, embarked on a project to try and draw people’s attention to the damage plastics are doing to the oceans and ourselves.
Angela was always destined to shine, her bright personality, experience, and sunny disposition led her to break boundaries in the world of sports and media as the first Asian-American female host to appear on networks such as ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, Tennis Channel and Fox Sports, to name a few. Now, while still fulfilling her commitments to US sports and travel channels, she is touring the world’s film festivals with her documentary, which has won and been nominated for over eleven awards, Plastic Paradise, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
"JFK once said that we are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came, and I guess that applies to me, in fact it applies to all of us," she told the Bulletin yesterday after having given a talk for the film festival ahead of the documentary’s screening.
As a host and correspondent for Al Gore’s Emmy Award-winning Current TV from 2005-2007, Angela also produced, shot, and wrote her own stories. Her international work includes countries such as the Philippines, Australia, China, and Guatemala just to name a few. Whether it be discussing women’s status in China, investigating coffee as a commodity, looking at terrorism’s affect on tourism in Palawan, the dangers of binge drinking in Europe, or shedding light on the myths behind STDs, Angela’s journalistic sensibilities and news background (Channel One News) guide her storytelling. In 2006, her three-part documentary series for Current TV about underground Christian missionaries in China won a Telly.
But what has really touched her and become a global campaign is the vital role we allow plastic to play in our daily lives and the highly negative consequences of its abusive use.
"Plastic is non biodegradable and the oceans are swimming in it, and that not only poses a threat to marine life and the marine environment, it also poses a grave danger to human beings. The results of a recent investigation in the Unitred States found that 55 per cent of fish examined had pieces of plastics inside their guts, and we eat those fish. I guess here in Majorca, being surrounded by water, residents are more aware of the importance of protecting the sea, but you try convincing someone who lives in central, landlocked America about the damage we are doing to the ocean and the world we live in by using plastic, that’s a tough call."
However, the documentary, which she admits was only originally going to be a five to ten minute short, not 57 minutes, has received worldwide acclaim and the support of some very influential and high-profile people.
"It’s been a long ten years. When I started out, I didn’t know what I was doing and I guess I still don’t really know what I’m doing," she laughed. "I’m used to interviewing people and covering events, now people are interviewing me and I’m having to give talks, but on the whole my message is well received, especially, like I said, in coastal areas, but we need to spread this message in land. However, there are major obstacles, especially in the States where the big petroleum companies have a huge interest in plastic, its made from fuel. Yes, we have recycling, but plastic cannot properly be recycled like glass can be, for example. This recycling is a bit of brainwashing by the big boys, it clears their consciences as we continue living in this convenience store world in which everything comes wraps in plastic. Yes, take your own bags to the store, but most of the stuff you come home with will be wrapped in plastic so that is why I support and champion farmers' markets, you can buy loose products, there’s no need for plastic bags.
"All we have to do is think about what the older generations did before plastic became such a key product in our lives. It was not until the 60s and 70s that plastic boomed because during the Second World War plastic and its derivatives were being used for everything from parachutes to uniforms. It became big business and it still is and we’re so used to it.
"One thing I’ve noticed here in Palma is people enjoying coffee on a terrace, having a chat taking their time, whereas back home or in other cities, everyone is on the go - it’s the Starbucks culture - everything comes in a plastic cup but what happens to that plastic cup? For example, I carry my own special water bottle with me everywhere. If I’m going through an airport, I empty it out and then just fill it up. Just flying here I must have been offered water in at least five plastic cups but I didn’t need them. It’s about awareness. I’m not a radical campaigner but I believe in greater legislation, more awareness on behalf of the suppliers, more education in schools, and we need to reduce the amount of plastic we use because, as I’ve pointed out, we’re not just damaging the environment, we are damaging ourselves. I want people to say ‘no’ to single use plastics," said the Emmy-nominated journalist.
"And, to do that I’ve started a challenge on my website called the two-week challenge to say no single-use plastics. I just want people to think about what they are doing when they go shopping. And it’s not just shopping. I intend to engage the sports industry. Just think of the thousands of plastic cups, bags and wrappers left behind in a stadium after a major sporting event. What happens to all that? It’s all about reduction, not reaction, the damage has already been done.
"We need to start being more proactive and taking some action before it is too late," Angela underlined.
In 2009, Angela travelled to Midway Atoll, Hawaii, thousands of miles away from anywhere to witness how it had become one giant garbage patch in the middle of the Pacific covered in plastic items which dated back some 20 odd years. That really opened her eyes, and the story did not stop there. Making the documentary, she travelled to some of the most remote parts of the world to investigate how mass consumption ultimately leads to the silent killer that is choking our ocean life and ultimately ourselves.
Rooted in a lot of research and facts throughout the years, Angela hopes that the film and her message resonates with viewers and connects people to the world around them.
"I know plastic doesn’t sound very sexy - we’re not talking about saving cuddly Pandas or snow leopards etc. - but it is an extremely important threat to our present and, more importantly, our future and it effects our daily lives on a huge scale that most of the time we don’t give it a second thought. Well we should."
To help and for more information visit www.angelasun.com
2 comments
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Total agreement with Steve Riches comment. We pay for carrier bags. I would be prepared to pay a higher amount for Bio Degradable Carrier Bags. Surely most forms of plastic use should be made Bio Degradable. Especially in the sea. Incidentally, the tiny pieces of microscopic plastic in the sea is swallowed by the fish. people who eat fish, are eating plastic.
Very much with her on this one. You can see lots of the larger plastic pieces off most of Mallorca's beaches and it's made worse by the cutbacks on the waste collection boats that used to go round frequently especially in high season. Where possible I'd like to see bio-degradeable plastic used, so on land it would return safely to the soil, BUT I am no expert on what happens to such plastic in the oceans. I know that most ocean plastic eventually degrades into microscopic specks that are still very dangerous to the environment. Environmentalists need also to focus on acceptable alternatives rather than just criticising the current use of plastics: that's much more difficult to achieve. Mallorca is a massive user of plastic bottles for drinking water: obviously it needs to be recycle-possible, AND we all need more effort to go into the recycling points: in my area of the island there is a good supply of these.