NowThis boosts ‘drag environmentalist,’ neglects how much drag owes to fossil fuels
July 14, 2023
NowThis News this week brings us the “Drag Environmentalist” Pattie Gonia. Pattie’s slogan is “No Planet, No Pride.”
Well, yes, many of us dress up to go outside, but Pattie will have to do some hard thinking here. Suppose we’re all going to stop using fossil fuels. In that case, we’re going to have to stop using propylene glycol (derived from propene, from fracked natural gas usually), mineral oil (from crude oil), petroleum jelly (ditto, crude oil), paraffin wax (yes, you guessed) and that’s just from the ingredients list for mascara. It gets worse, as others include lanolin, a product of sheep ranching – as with meat eating, one of the dangers to the planet. So too, is the powdered aluminum used to give sparkle a problem – the energy requirements and mining are extensive.
We cannot stop there, though. Foundations use mica and titanium dioxide to cover blemishes. For example, the heavier the foundation to cover stubble, the more of those two mined minerals have to be used. As we keep being told, mining is terrible for the environment; that’s why we’ve all got to recycle, right?
The list goes on and on – propyl alcohol is pervasive in makeups of all kinds.
We need to go yet further again. Any synthetic fabric is just entirely out. All nylons are petroleum-based; all rayons are chopped down from magnificent forests. Even the so-called natural materials mostly aren’t these days. Cotton is mostly genetically modified and uses vast amounts of irreplaceable fresh water. Plus, petroleum and natural gas-derived fertilizers. Wool means sheep which means methane emissions.
If a man can’t get dressed up or wear makeup, how can we continue to have a drag? Well, entirely – which is why environmental drag doesn’t work. Not that we thought it did as a concept, to begin with, but the above is proof that the two just aren’t compatible.
Yes, we did check. For those who go a little further than mere drag, the implants are made of silicone, which involves first creating hydrogen gas, the normal source of which is natural gas. So that’s not environmentally sound either.
It’s perhaps important to note what our point is here. How consenting adults dress themselves is nothing to do with us. It’s the excuses and promotions that disturb. Drag story hour is more of a normalization event than anything else. And this environmental drag idea just doesn’t stand up to examination.
There was, after all, a reason why the hippy chicks weren’t wearing all that makeup when they tried to be at one with Gaia.