Kristina Wong knows that environmental issues are no laughing matter, but she still manages to crack us up whenever she tells tales of living sustainably.
Wong has made a name for herself in the performance art/comedy world with her quirky, one-woman show about living sustainably. Wong’s successful 2010 show, “Going Green the Wong Way,” details how the artist tries oh so very hard to live sustainably in Los Angeles, Calif.
In the article, “The Misadventures of Eco-Comedian Kristina Wong Will Make You LOL,” Grist interviews the funny lady and got some pretty spectacular bon mots about Wong’s eco-lifestyle.
- Wong owned a vegetable oil-powered 1981 Mercedes, even though it was incredibly difficult to find veggie oil for her ride. In fact, it was so difficult to find oil for her veggie-oil-mobile, she met someone in an alley to attain oil. Now, that’s dedication!
- She has, on occasion, used other people’s recycling bins for her recyclables. Sure that may seem terrible, but she doesn’t have recycling in her building! (I feel you, Wong. My building doesn’t have recycling either, and I have used various methods to make certain my recyclables don’t end up in the trash.)
Overall, Wong wants her comedy to help people understand that living a sustainable life is important.
In conjunction with performing shows that detail living sustainably, Wong also is a proud proponent of DIY culture (she digs knitting, crocheting and sewing). She also decided to give up using a car once her vehicle kicked the bucket. (Her ’81 Mercedes caught fire on the freeway — what a way to go out!) Wong also is a big supporter of biking, and in 2007, she embarked on a personal project she dubbed her “Buy Nothing Year.”
Besides being a female in comedy, Wong also pens poignant and hilarious word storms on topics that tackle guys with an Asian fetish, and depression in the Chinese-American community. (In 2006, Wong toured a show called, “Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” that examined the high rates of suicide and depression among Asian-American women.)
No matter what Wong is working on, she aims to make invisible problems visible – and funny – while creating space for public discussion.
Look for Wong’s upcoming show, “The Wong Street Journal,” which will tackle topics, such as global poverty, in 2015.
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Image: Kristina Wong