Stefanie Iris Weiss - Eco-Sex: Go Green Between the Sheets and Make Your Love Life Sustainable

For my Love.

INTRODUCTION Feel Like Makin Love (on a Small Planet):
An Eco-Sexual Manifesto

PART 1

CHAPTER ONE Everything You Always Wanted to
Know About Eco-Regulation but Were Afraid to Ask

CHAPTER TWO Eco-Gorgeousness: Much More
than Skin Deep

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

PART II

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

PART III

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I am deeply indebted to a small army of enormously supportive associates, without whom this book would have been impossible. My great thanks to Cheryl McNeil, whose research skills are the best, bar none. To my East CoastWest Coast team of assistants, Angela Elia and Liz Barlow, you totally rock! To Patrick Duffy for his terrific analysis and for giving the book his expert environmental imprimaturthank you so much. Enormous thanks to Bill Katovsky for his expert brainstorming and initial feedback on this project. And tremendous thanks to my wonderful editor, Lisa Westmoreland, for making the process so much fun. Much love to my darling friend, the bertalented Peter Elofsson, for his brilliant hair and makeup work on my back-cover photo. Finally, love and endless gratitude to my friends and family for putting up with my incessant talk about keeping it green.

I can remember when the air was clean and sex was dirty.

George Burns

Y ou drive a hybrid. Your home recycling system is state of the art. You buy nothing but organic produce. Youre oh-so-good at being greenat least thats what you tell yourself as you carry home your I Am Not a Plastic Bag tote filled with nontoxic goodies. But heres the dirty truth: If you havent thought about greening your sex life, youre still a total environmental disaster. Your compost heap isnt worth dirt if your bedroom is a toxic waste dump. Sex can be one of the lowest-impact forms of entertainment (and exercise) on the planet, but only if you do it right. Green sex doesnt have to be clean, vanilla sex; it can be as kinky as you please. But if you want it to be good sex (in all senses of the word), then its time to make your love life truly sustainable.

Whats wrong our sex lives? Lets start with condoms. Prophylactics often get tossed in the toilet after use, where they soon make their way into the sewers and then the water system or ocean. The same goes for excreted birth control pills, which affect marine life (not to mention wreaking havoc on your bodys own ecosystem). And what about those lovely long-stemmed red roses you give or receive on Valentines Day, anniversaries, and birthdays? They were probably treated with cancer-causing pesticides that are banned in the United States, cultivated by underage field workers, and flown in from Ecuador or Colombia. Thats not very sexy, is it? Standard sex toys contain toxic, carcinogenic plastic. Used nonrechargeable batteries for vibrators end up in landfills. The majority of personal lubricants are petroleum based, and who wants to support Big Oil while trying to reach her own Big O?

One of the best reasons to become an eco-sexual is that, if you dont, in a few decades you might not have time for sexyoull be too busy searching for food or escaping from coastal flooding, hurricanes, drought, and general blight. Yes, it is that dire. Global warming (increasingly referred to as climate change) is no joke, and peak oil paints a Mad Maxlike scenario that would instantly kill anyones libido. Wanna stick around long enough to find new paths to pleasure? Then consider this: Climate change is now a certifiable threat to the national security of the United States. According to a mid-2009 article in the New York Times, over the next twenty to thirty years, vulnerable regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia, will face the prospect of food shortages, water crises and catastrophic flooding driven by climate change that could demand an American humanitarian relief or military response. And the West is next. Are you still in the mood?

PEAK OIL : The point in time at which the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached. Its all downhill from there.

Speaking of Big Os, before it gets pumped into your car, oil must be searched for, drilled, pumped, refined, and transported to your local gas station. The carbon sins continue as this nonrenewable fossil fuel spews from your engine, clogging up the atmosphere. But thats only part of the storythe entire infrastructure of modern society is based on petroleum products. Look around the room youre in right now and notice how much of your daily life revolves around plastic, one of the ubiquitous products made from oil. Then think about how the food you eat is shipped to the supermarketor what conventional condoms are made of. Sadly, were in a deeply abusive, codependent relationship with oil. Weve created a world in which we can barely function without it, but it doesnt love us back. Its time to break the cycle and find a better energy boyfriend. (Solar and wind are fine-looking babes, by the way. Leave coal at the bar with his buddies; hes not nearly as clean as his lobbyist friends say he is.)

Before you drag yourself to a nunnery, consider that eco-sex can be great sex, without any loss of pleasure. This book covers important bedroom basics like eco-friendly birth-control methods, organically grown cotton and bamboo bed linens, and vegan sex toys. But it goes much fartherinto all the issues that we must explore in our search for good sex. Well look at all you do to attract a partner, from getting gussied up with organic makeup to finding vegan stilettos. Youll also learn how to woo your intended with a home-cooked meal of local, sustainable aphrodisiac foods (courtesy of celebrity chefs who know a thing or two about what to do with a cucumber). If youre in a long-term relationship thats in need of some heat, theres no need to stray or to reach for the little blue pill. Tantric sex is one of the most amazing natural alternatives to pharmaceuticals, and its more than just funits enlightening. And there are also plenty of stimulating herbs available that will make a huge, ahem, impact.

One of the must-have books on every eco-sexuals bookshelf should be Bob Doppelts The Power of Sustainable Thinking. He really lays it on the line. As a systems analyst, he understands that the propensity for quick fixes and straight-line thinking endemic to our society cannot be merged with real