How Green is your love life?

How to have a green sex life

Los Angeles - You drive a hybrid, eat organic, and are passionate about recycling. But how green is your love life?

Think about those lovely Valentine's Day roses and the environmental costs of growing them and the carbon miles involved in flying them in from faraway lands.

And what about used condoms, tossed into the toilet and making their way into sewers that perhaps pollute the ocean?

If an ecologically sustainable life between the sheets hasn't crossed your mind, you're still a "total environmental neophyte", according to author Stefanie Iris Weiss.

But help is on the way with Weiss's new handbook Eco-Sex, which leaves no stone unturned in its mission to bring the bedroom front and centre into the battle to save the planet.

"I have always wanted to write a sex book. I am a very committed greenie, and I have been a vegetarian for 20 years. I saw a gap in the market and I couldn't believe no-one had written about this topic," Weiss, 38, told Reuters.

"I think green sex is having its moment right now. I think it is the next big thing in green. People are realising that their every day, most intimate habits, are deeply connected to this horrible crisis we are in," she said.

No more toys?!

From hand-cranked sex toys (and websites where old battery-driven devices can be recycled) to healthy, eco-friendly underwear (bamboo) and dating sites for ecological warriors, Eco-Sex aims to show readers how to reduce the carbon footprint of their love life - and have fun doing it.

Weiss, who says she either tried out or reviewed every item in the book, interviewed raw food chefs to get recipes for aphrodisiac meals for two, suggests the ideal first eco-date (biking), and recommends natural latex mattresses (but warns they are less bouncy than those made of springs, coils and synthetic foam).

She finds a vast range of natural or organic cosmetics, condoms made of latex that are also biodegradable, and resources for eco-sexy bling - because neither diamonds nor gold are a self-respecting green girl's best friend.

"It was the most fun I have ever had researching a book in my life," she said.

As for flowers for your sweetheart - the true eco-sexual would grow them in the backyard, or at least buy them locally from a farmers' market.

Weiss admits that "some people are going to make fun of the notion of eco-sex. I expect that".

Green baby-making

She says eco-sex doesn't have to be tame, adding you can be passionate in bed and about Mother Earth "without coming off like you're (a 1960s hippie) trapped on the set of Hair the Musical."

Despite all the fun replacements for essential accessories in the dating game - like plain old baking soda instead of chemical-heavy commercial teeth whiteners - there is a serious side to Eco-Sex.

With the planet headed towards a population of around nine billion oxygen-swilling, carbon-emitting people by 2040, according to the UN, the ultimate carbon offset is to choose sex that does not result in having babies.

"The No 1 thing people can do to be an eco-sexual is to have fewer kids, or have none at all," said Weiss, who is childless.

If that sounds outrageous, just give a thought to the 90% of the estimated diapers sold each year that end up in landfills. Or how the carbon footprint of one extra person far outweighs all the energy-saving light bulbs you've installed.

"I think over-population is an important conversation for people to have. It is something people think about in terms of third world countries. But it is also a conversation that would benefit us in America to have," she said.

- Reuters

Save energy, Zuma urges Sunday, 02 May 2010 06:43

President Jacob Zuma has called on South Africans to save energy in an effort to avoid the load-shedding that plunged the country into darkness in 2007 and 2008.

In its efforts to save the limited resource, Government is embarking on an initiative to implement the use of alternative forms of energy - cheaper and cleaner forms which saves money and the environment.

Solar water heating is one such option that has many benefits as compared with other forms of water heating. Once installed, you have free hot water.

On Wednesday, Zuma launched Government's Solar Water Heating Programme in Winterveldt, which saw families in the area receive solar panels, Zuma reiterated that energy was not an unlimited resource and people needed to work harder at conserving it.

"We took energy for granted. Things have changed drastically. You will recall that the period 2007 and 2008 saw a number of noticeable disruptions in the electricity supply.

"Large sections of the country were plunged into darkness as a result of Eskom not being able to meet the electricity demand nationwide," he said.

Wednesday's launch is in line with government's target of installing at least one million solar water heaters by 2014 to reduce the water heating load on the national grid. Winterveld was chosen as the sight of the launch for the fact that the people living in this area derived wealth from available natural resources such as land and are very innovative.

Zuma said plans were afoot in government to convert water heating for hospitals, clinics, prisons, barracks and other government buildings to solar water heating.

"You will see a lot of that happening in the next few years," he said.

Currently 270 heaters have been installed in some homes in the area and phase two of the installation will supply at least 10 400 additional heaters in Tshwane this year.

Phase three of the project, starting during 2010-2011, will target the whole country over a longer period.

"As we continue to look for other alternatives to save energy, let me remind all that we must continue to save electricity. We must switch off our appliances when they are not in use. Let us share this responsibility as citizens of this country and electricity users," said Zuma.

Commenting on the programme Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said that residents were keen on having solar power heaters in their homes.

"We know that after this launch - a lot of people who have started to see their neighbours having hot water in the morning while they are busy pumping their prima stoves, will want the same," she said.

She added that the advantage of installing solar heaters was that people would save money towards their electricity bill and that they will get rebates for installing it.

"We will be calling a press conference on how the standard offer relates to how you as an individual can save electricity and how you will be able to monitor it and make sure that you can be able to benefit from a particular rebate, "she said..

During the president's visit to the area, three houses that had been fitted with solar water heaters were visited including that of a disabled man.

Austin Maluleka a 36-year-old unemployed man was one of the recipients of a solar water heating system. The married father of two said that the heater, installed in November 2009, has made his life easier.

"We no longer have to boil water to bath; we use our electricity to cook. I no longer spend a lot of money buying electricity, our tap has hot water," he said. - BuaNews

Go visit www.greenlifestore.co.za

Washed Up Whale Found with Gallons of Our Garbage In Its Gut

A young 37-foot whale stranded on the shore in West Seattle, and it had a summary of what we're doing to our oceans held within its stomach. As photographer Chris Jordan documented in birds' guts, our marine animals are filling up not on nutritious sea life, but the junk we toss out that makes its way into the oceans. Fifty gallons of contents were examined from this near-adult male gray whale, and you won't believe some of the garbage this poor beast had swallowed.

According to Cascadia Research Collective, 50 gallons of stomach contents were sorted through. Most of it was real food - algae and other bits common to a gray whale diet - but also included were more than 20 plastic bags, small towels, surgical gloves, sweat pants, plastic pieces, duct tape, and a golf ball.

If there were any doubt before, there is none now - the ocean has become a landfill. However, if there's a bit of a silver lining, the trash made up just about 2% of the total contents, and it doesn't seem to have been the cause of death. But what Cascadia Research points out, "It did clearly indicate that the whale had been attempting to feed in industrial waters and therefore exposed to debris and contaminants present on the bottom in these areas."

Gray whales are bottom feeders and get their nutrition from the sediments in shallow waters. They filter small organisms as their food, but apparently they aren't always able to filter out human pollution. Researchers are currently studying the whale to find out the cause of death, which could be anything from not getting enough food (three other whales that died in April during migration appeared emaciated and perhaps didn't get enough to eat in Alaska last year) to pollution and chemicals in the water. The results won't be known for several weeks.