How to “Green” Your Sex Life

by Ali Kriscenski from The Daily Tomorrow, exclusively for Lively Women

Everything we do has an effect on the environment but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun and look out for Mother Nature. There are some easy ways to keep your eco-values alive when giving in to, er, human nature.

Here’s how.

Condoms

Ask a beach cleanup volunteer what they find littering the sands and the answer is likely to include used condoms. Condoms find their way onto beaches, into waterways and water treatment facilities when they are flushed down the toilet. Many sea creatures mistake condoms for jellyfish or other food sources and the results are deadly.

To keep it baby-free and protect wildlife, don’t flush condoms. Put them in the trash bin and send them direct to the landfill. It may sound counterintuitive but that’s where they will end up anyway. Just if you flush it someone else, like a waste treatment worker or biologist, will have to handle the job.

Sex Toys

Ok, maybe you’re not buying them but somebody is because sex toys make up an estimated $500 billion dollar market. Many sex toys are made with chemicals that are more than just a turn off, they’re dangerous.

PVC (yep, plumbing) and the phthalates used to soften it are commonly found in sex toys but are linked to diseases like cancer and reproductive disorders. These same compounds have been banned from other products, like baby toys, in the EU because of the associated health risks.

The Grist’s Emily Gertz explores the ins and outs (sorry!) of what to avoid and what to look for in a eco-friendly sex toy in Naughty by Nature: Ever thought about the toxins in your sex toys?. Along with a few good suppliers, just in case your “friend” is interested.

Flush

Not condoms! We’ve already covered that one. This time I’m referring to your system. Women are prone to urinary tract infections which can require treatment with antibiotics. Once again, anything that goes down the toilet makes its way to waterways, including ingested medications. To keep yourself and waterways free from antibiotics partake in a little post-sex pee to help flush the system and avoid a UTI.

Control or Contamination?

While we’re on the topic of medications in waterways…There is a growing concern about hormones and endocrine disruptors in waterways. Some of the contamination is from industrial pollution where certain chemicals in plastics, pesticides and other products have a molecular structure similar to estrogen. Another source of the contamination is from birth control pills.

These compounds cannot not be filtered by waste treatment processes and instead find there way into open water bodies. In the early 1980s, a WWF senior scientist named Theo Colborn discovered that many predators in the Great Lakes of North America were suffering from reproductive disorders. Her research linked chemical exposure to endocrine disorders, including diabetes.

Hormones or similar compounds in waterways disrupt the natural endocrine processes in both humans and wildlife. There may be a greener birth control that fits your lifestyle, like a diaphragm or IUD. If you’re interested, talk to your health care provider about the different options.

Resources

• How to Green Your Sex Life: everything from eco-undies to all natural aphrodisiacs at TreeHugger - there’s no such thing as TMI.
• The Endocrine Disruptor Exchange: research, studies and information on endocrine disruptors - founded by Dr. Theo Colborn.
• Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) FAQ on endocrine disruptors: quick reference with most important facts.
• What could be more natural?: All-natural and organic personal lubricants at Ideal Bite.
• Paging Dr. Love: fair trade, sustainable wood and recycled…are we still talking about sex toys?