Wyn Wiley (he/him), aka Pattie Gonia (she/her), has made waves over the past year as a drag queen advocating for the environment. People love Pattie for her comedy and dancing, but also for her powerful honesty and vulnerability when addressing issues of inclusion and climate. Pattie uses her superpower for artistic expression and drag to raise awareness around issues that impact us all.
We follow Wyn as he travels to Hawaii to see firsthand the impacts of careless consumption and plastics on Mother Nature (or as Pattie says, “Mother Natch”). Wyn meets with scientists, nonprofit leaders, volunteers, then rallies the Pattie community to lead a beach cleanup with Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii. Finally, Wyn partners with sustainable fashion designer Angela Luna of ADIFF to create three dresses that personify the plastics crisis. We then see Pattie wearing these works of art in the short film “Everything to Lose.”
The piece features a spoken word poem by Pattie Gonia that asks people to reflect on the impacts their actions have on the environment. After all, now is the time to change our behaviors and make positive impact.
“Everything to Lose”
by Pattie Gonia
Welcome to the planet, my dears
Wipe your feet, come on in
No more need for coats in your mother’s den
Take a look around
Take a taste of the waste we’ve found
This … is plastic
And this … is tragic
And it’s not going away
So let us sit
At the dinner table in the home we call nature
Come, let’s chat, I have an ice breaker
Are we still lighting candles while the house is burning?
While we throw flame and fight over who is right
our Mother does not bite her tongue or sit in silence
Oh no, Mother Natch is pissed
You see, a woman knows when she’s been told
When the men in the boardroom think she’s being too bold
Too proud, too outspoken, too much to handle
When she’s been made the doormat instead of the mantle
Is this our message in a plastic bottle?
XO hugs kisses
I’ll try better tomorrow
Day after day we send our regards
Millions and millions of plastic discards
P.S. We don’t give a damn.
But we should really give a damn.
Now I know what you’re saying, “It’s just a drop in the bucket”
“It’s just one plastic bag, one straw, so suck it”
Well suck. On. This.
Right now, there are more plastic pieces in the ocean
Than stars in the Milky Way
A billion plastic bags being used every single day
While we dress this mess in political gains and power change and profits made
Our mother says to go upstairs and put on something new
So come out of the closet and put on your boots
We’ve got a s**t ton of work to do.
So queens, let me be straight
Father Time is ticking on
And what will be left is what we have done
Our mother is dying while we are out living
We must turn the tide from taking to giving
We will make a difference if we dare choose
It’s time that we act …
We’ve got everything to lose.
(TICKING OF CLOCK)
Credits:
Starring/Directing – Pattie Gonia, Wyn Wiley
Production Company – Wondercamp
Director/Editor – Tim Kressin
Producer – Davis Goslin
Assistant Producer – Jenny Dugan
Manager – Dayna Turnblom
Sustainable Designer – Angela Luna, ADIFF
Hair & Makeup – Katie Nash