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Doing it green
Dec. 4th, 2007 10:55 pmSexual Ethics
"How many people here have sex with the lights on?" the teacher sat cross legged on his desk and looked at us evenly. Some of us looked back at him and raised our hands immediately; others giggled and blushed and either raised hands tentatively or not at all.
We came mostly in pairs – couples – to take a class on "Getting Down and Dirty with Mother Earth – Greener Sex". The teacher was dressed in jeans and an unbleached cotton shirt with a mandarin collar.
"Thank you," he acknowledged our raised hands, "That's the first thing to cut out. Keeping the lights on is an unnecessary waste of electricity. If you want a bit of mood lighting, consider some LED Christmas lights."
I wrote Xmas LEDs instead of lights on my notepad.
"What about candles?" a student by the window asked.
"Well, beeswax might be an acceptable choice, if you aren't vegan, of course, but don't get cheap candles. They're made with petrochemicals."
I wrote beeswax candles? and drew a bumble bee and some flowers.
"But, even better, if you want to be able to see each other, just have sex during the day."
Someone at the back giggled like a middle school student in their first sex ed class.
At the end of the class, the page of my notebook is covered with instructions.
The bedroom: organic cotton sheets, furniture made of sustainably harvested wood, and compact fluorescent bulbs.
Romance: organic and locally grown fruit, organic and locally made wines, and fair trade chocolate (in moderation – shipped from overseas = larger carbon footprint).
Sex play: shower together (save water during foreplay), organic hemp cuffs, modifying second hand clothing for role playing costumes, and sex toys (durable – buy to last – rechargeable batteries).
"It is hard to choose a good lubricant. Avoid petroleum-based ones, of course. There are some commercially made ones that are water-based or made with hemp oil, but simplest of all would be some organic extra virgin olive oil."
Smell like salad dressing, I noted.
"It really comes down to seeking out the most natural products and getting as close to how things used to be, before plastics and chemicals, as we can."
"When did sex get so complicated?" my partner whispered as he looked over my pages of notes: products, ideas, resources, instructions.
"Doing the right thing has always been complicated," I whispered back.
"Sex can be the most natural thing in the world," the teacher said, "if we really work at it."
Fiction inspired by “The Greenpeace Guide to Environmentally-Friendly Sex”.
"How many people here have sex with the lights on?" the teacher sat cross legged on his desk and looked at us evenly. Some of us looked back at him and raised our hands immediately; others giggled and blushed and either raised hands tentatively or not at all.
We came mostly in pairs – couples – to take a class on "Getting Down and Dirty with Mother Earth – Greener Sex". The teacher was dressed in jeans and an unbleached cotton shirt with a mandarin collar.
"Thank you," he acknowledged our raised hands, "That's the first thing to cut out. Keeping the lights on is an unnecessary waste of electricity. If you want a bit of mood lighting, consider some LED Christmas lights."
I wrote Xmas LEDs instead of lights on my notepad.
"What about candles?" a student by the window asked.
"Well, beeswax might be an acceptable choice, if you aren't vegan, of course, but don't get cheap candles. They're made with petrochemicals."
I wrote beeswax candles? and drew a bumble bee and some flowers.
"But, even better, if you want to be able to see each other, just have sex during the day."
Someone at the back giggled like a middle school student in their first sex ed class.
At the end of the class, the page of my notebook is covered with instructions.
The bedroom: organic cotton sheets, furniture made of sustainably harvested wood, and compact fluorescent bulbs.
Romance: organic and locally grown fruit, organic and locally made wines, and fair trade chocolate (in moderation – shipped from overseas = larger carbon footprint).
Sex play: shower together (save water during foreplay), organic hemp cuffs, modifying second hand clothing for role playing costumes, and sex toys (durable – buy to last – rechargeable batteries).
"It is hard to choose a good lubricant. Avoid petroleum-based ones, of course. There are some commercially made ones that are water-based or made with hemp oil, but simplest of all would be some organic extra virgin olive oil."
Smell like salad dressing, I noted.
"It really comes down to seeking out the most natural products and getting as close to how things used to be, before plastics and chemicals, as we can."
"When did sex get so complicated?" my partner whispered as he looked over my pages of notes: products, ideas, resources, instructions.
"Doing the right thing has always been complicated," I whispered back.
"Sex can be the most natural thing in the world," the teacher said, "if we really work at it."
Fiction inspired by “The Greenpeace Guide to Environmentally-Friendly Sex”.
