There are few things more natural than making love. For all the time we might think about it or dedicate to the discussion of it, how many of us consider the connection between the environment and intimacy? That is changing. As more environmentalists are finding their ‘E-Spot,‘ and learning about ‘Ecosex‘ – terms made popular by activists in the US – the message is being heard around the world: how we treat the planet and how we treat ourselves shows up very much in our most private experiences.

With spring upon us, and all that means for romance and love, here are 3 ways being eco-savvy now can improve your relationships for a lifetime.

#1: Nourish Your Libido, Naturally

Lovers in the Middle East are one step ahead of their US counterparts: The Mediterranean Diet is especially suited for a lifetime of sexual health and wellbeing.Diets rich in plants and raw foods are best for feeding the two organs we need to keep in optimal health for optimal lovemaking. These are the brain and the heart. The Med Diet, as it is known, is familiar to residents in many parts of the Middle East.

For more on how this way of eating is especially good for a man’s sexual performance, read here. Bottom line: Increase the amount of whole grains, vegetables, legumes and beans, low fat dairy such as kefir in your diet, and avoid high fat animal protein sources like red meat, and your heart, brain and loins will thank you for the longer haul.

#2: Play the Natural Way

The number one complaint for most women when it comes to intimacy is vaginal dryness. Lubricants are a robust business around the globe, but it is really buyer beware when it comes to the ingredients. According to one creator of natural intimacy aids, “90% of the over the counter lubricants contain ingredients originally designed to clean your oven or grease your car engine.” We don’t want petrochemicals near our sexual organs.

One better, more natural and healthy option is probably already in your cupboard: coconut oil. Caution: because it is an oil, it cannot be used with latex condoms. Read here for more on the ins and outs of vaginal lubrication that is more eco-savvy. If you want to learn more about how to shop for eco-conscious toys, we invite you to read here.

#3: Cultivate Pleasure, Naturally

This is really simple: natural pleasures are good for us. Spending time in the outdoors – hiking, swimming, or simply meditating under a tree, for example – is one way we can feel more alive and connected to the world around us. Spending unplugged time with our loved ones doing things that are fun and enjoyable for everyone elevates our moods too.

The point is that when we do things that feel good to our senses, we invite more ecstasy into our lives. So put down the cell phone. Shut off the television. Set aside the game consoles and give yourselves permission to do something a little on the wildside. Time spent in nature invites us to appreciate the world around us, and it connects us to our primal selves in ways that city life has shut down for many lovers. The rejuvation that comes from enjoying natural pleasures can lead to natural delights.

Read More Eco-Conscious Love News:

Ecosex: Why are Environmentalists Avoiding the E-Spot?

Can Conscious Love Pave the Way to Global Peace?

Tinamarie is a relationship & environmental blogger & intimacy coach who helps women over 35 experience sensational intimate relationships, naturally. You can reach her at ecocoachtina@gmail.com.

The post 3 Ways Eco-Consciousness can Improve Your Love Life appeared first on Green Prophet.

Jet fuel in breast milk? Breasts getting bigger than generations ago? These are just two discoveries that investigative journalist, Florence William’s, shares in her latest book about the environmental impact on breasts.

Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History (2012) is more than an ode to those beguiling curves; it is part of the growing body of research and awareness about eco-conscious intimacy, a movement some are calling ‘ecosexuality.’ A term originally coined by Greenpeace about 10 years ago, among other things ecosexuality invites us to examine the impact of toxins on our reproductive selves.

“For such an enormously popular feature of the human race — even today, when they are frequently bikinied, bared, flaunted, measured, inflated, sexted, YouTubed, suckled, pierced, tattooed, tassled and in every way fetishized — it’s remarkable how little we know about their basic biology,” Williams says.

Being made primarily of fat and glandular tissue, “breasts, it turns out, are a particularly fine mirror of our industrial lives,” Williams explains. “In the course of a lifetime, [they] meet many friends and foes: lovers, babies, ill-fitting undergarments, persistent pollutants, maybe a nipple ring, a baggie of silicone or a dose of therapeutic radiation. It’s a lot to ask of breasts.”

Measurable consequences include bigger breasts developed earlier with toxins finding hiding places in unsuspecting bosoms. Toxins come from industrial sources including air pollution. William’s had her breast milk tested and found that it was laced with miniscule amounts of jet fuel. However, consumers are also inadvertently exposed to daily household use items.

Many of those are in our beauty, cleaning and pleasure aid products. For example, lead in lipsticks reduces fertility in men and women. Toluene in nail polish and hair dye stops menstruation and decreases sperm count. Phthalates are reproductive toxins found in fragrances, cosmetics, and personal care products (even many vibrators and dildos). Bisphenol-A in plastics has been shown to cause spontaneous abortions and alter a man’s sperm.

Breast cancer rates vary around the globe, with women in Israel having rates similar to the west. It kills fewer women than heart disease, but because its scars reach deeper than our skin, it’s the rallying call that resonates with women’s private erotic selves. This touches on another aspect of the ecosex movement; our attitudes towards pleasure, our bodies and what is considered ‘natural.’ For better or for worse, Williams message about breast health underscores the complicated relationship society often has with the female body.

From the author’s website:

“Feted and fetishized, the breast is an evolutionary masterpiece. But in the modern world, the breast is changing… and attracting newfangled chemicals. Increasingly, the odds are stacked against us in the struggle with breast cancer – even among men. What makes breasts so mercurial – and so vulnerable?”

Her investigation follows the life cycle of the breast from puberty to pregnancy to menopause, bringing her from a plastic surgeon’s office where she learns about the importance of cup size in Texas to a lab where she discovers the presence of environmental toxins in her own breast milk.

Endowed with a witty and inquisitive voice, Williams explores where breasts came from, where they have ended up, and what we can do to save them.

Florence Williams work often focuses on the environment, health and science. She is a contributing editor at Outside Magazine and a freelance writer for New York Times, New York Times Magazine and numerous other publications.

Read more breast health news:
Ecosex and Why Environmentalists Are Avoiding the e-Spot
Are Hormones in the Environment Making Women’s Breasts Bigger?
Natural Breast Enhancement

The post Breast Milk Worth More Than Oil appeared first on Green Prophet.

Julie McIntyre, an ‘Earth ceremonialist’ and director for the Center for Earth Relations is an ecological visionary. Trained in plant medicine, Ayurveda, Reiki, medical herbalism, wilderness survival and holistic health, she’s the lastest to write a book about human relationships and the environmental movement: Sex and the Intelligence of the Heart: Nature, Intimacy and Sexual Energy (Destiny Books, 2012).

In this exclusive Earth Day interview, Julie shares her vision for falling in love with the planet, explains why she thinks the environmental movement has shied away from Ecosex, and how the Ecosex movement can mentor in greater environmental awareness in the Middle East.

Green Prophet: How do you foster a love affiar with nature?

Julie McIntyre: One of at least two ways: You have to want to have a love affair with nature, sometimes it happens spontaneously like going to a favorite spot in the forest or a beach and over time you notice you are falling in love with that particular place of Earth, becoming protective of it and calling it your special place where you go to sit, to think, to be inspired, to be stirred up or calmed down, to feel whole again, and be put back together when you may feel like you’re falling apart. This place becomes your friend, your confidant you tell all your secrets to and you find you are getting authentic knowledge and insights you have not had access to before.

To start with, slow down. Take off your shoes and feel the Earth beneath your feet; sand between your toes, pebbles massaging your souls, be in your body; how does it feel? Feel the air and sun on your skin; do you lean into the wind or brace your back against it? Really see the details in flowers and leaves, look with the eyes of a child as if you are seeing each pebble, each boulder, each tree, each insect as if for the first time. Feel them, smell them, let the experience fill your senses.

Become intoxicated with the sounds and scents flowing around and through you. Go to the Earth, as you would your lover; go the holy waters of hot springs and oceans, go to the tops of mountains, smell the pines, the air after a rain storm, use all your senses. Fall in love with life, with this experience of being a fully alive, fully sensing, fully playing member of the circle of life.

Green Prophet: What message can readers in the Middle East get from your book?

Sex is sex all over the planet. Sex is expressed in many ways and forms but when sex is repressed, the damage it causes goes deep into our personal, social and cultural psyches. Sex cannot be stopped or prevented even though there are attempts to do so. And because sexual energy can not be stopped, as energy it must keep moving and it must be released somewhere in some form; the ideal is to have out in the open, to own our sexual natures, the sexual nature of the Earth and talk honestly about it with each other and our children.  Sexual health and freedom translates to healthier individuals and a healthier culture.

Green Prophet: Why has the environmental movement resisted authentic discussions about sex?

I believe it has resisted authentic discussions about sex because to do so would require that we actually start talking about sex, out loud. It would require looking at personal values, beliefs and behaviors about sex, contaminated baggage many of us carry into childhood into adult sexual relationships. It’s a slippery and wet topic that makes many people uncomfortable because we are uncomfortable about it ourselves, uncomfortable in our own bodies even.

Often in discussions about the environment there is a theme that sounds something like: Men’s sexuality is bad and aggressive and women’s sexual natures are vulnerable and need protecting. Language like: Mother Earth needs protecting; men (and large corporations) have raped and pillaged the land and forests; have created birth control measures on rivers with lock and dams, and so on. So for us to have honest discussions about sex and the environment, men have to own their sexual natures, all of it in its magnificence and beauty and power and the environmental movement must give up seeing women in the victim role and as women we must own our own inherent mysterious, creative and powerful force of our sexual natures.

If we were to actually have honest, real conversations about the sexual natures of ourselves and each other and the sexuality, and sensuality of Earth, our current behaviors would have to change to reflect new beliefs; belief that Earth is a living, breathing, aware, intelligent organism engaged in sexual reproduction on many levels.

Green Prophet: What has been the consequence of that?

The consequences have been dire. Omitting sex from discussions about the environment has created an insanity in our psyches widening the gaping chasm between human beings and Earth, human beings and the other species we live with. It has taken the element of the sacred completely out of the discussion; secularizing our relationship with the Earth. Discussions about the environment without discussions about sex is essentially a lie by omission.

Green Prophet: Share your understanding of intimacy, love and sustainablity in relationship?

Relationships are sustained because you want to sustain it. When you decide this relationship is what you want, you put energy into it, keep it alive and dynamic through intimacy and falling in love with your beloved over and over again; see them new each day. Notice the little things they do, really see them, wrap your heart field and love around them each day.  For love to grow and flourish there must be a commitment to intimacy which is to say, you have a commitment to being vulnerable, to being undefended, to allowing yourself to be seen and naked in the deepest parts of you; who you were, what your hopes and dreams are, what secrets you’ve carried and not spoken out loud.

For intimacy and relationships to survive you must have an intimate relationship with yourself; what inspires you, what are your hopes and dreams and fears? What part of your body do you not have a relationship with or that you hate? What do you do with the fears and disappointments you have? Who would you trust your life with? How do you feel being seen naked? What do you do to get your needs and wants met? Do you hide your feelings and the deep parts of yourself?

Sex and the Intelligence of the Heart: Nature, Intimacy and Sexual Energy explores how nature underlies sexuality and intimacy. It is published by Destiny Books and available this month in bookstores and on Amazon. You can learn more about Julie at the Foundation for Gaian Studies.

The post Earth Day Exclusive: Interview with Julie McIntyre, author of new Ecosex Book appeared first on Green Prophet.

Take a hike to fall in love with Planet Earth and embody green loving? End your romance with plastic because the evidence is irrefutable; BPA is nasty to your naked bits? You bet! From healthy habits in the bedroom to eating for optimum performance, Ecosex is the optimal way to experience intimacy that is good for you and safe for the planet. With rare exception however (Green Prophet is notably cool), the green blogosphere has yet to catch the enthusiasm; even though it is this writer’s opinion that Ecosex has the potential to revitalize enthusiasm for eco-conscious living among a populace grown bored, weary or deaf. Yes, Ecosex can save the world. But greenies have to finally listen.

Fortunately, other visionaries are. Annie Sprinkle and Elizabeth Stephens, champions of the movement, have started walking tours in the United States to introduce participants to the beauty of the outdoors. They call it finding your e-Spot. Stefanie Iris Weiss, author of Ecosex: Go Green Between the Sheets and Make Your Love Life Sustainable (2010) is doing workshops at adult pleasure shops.

Sacred sexuality educators, Alan Strydom and Farhana Goga (whose ancestry is a colorful mix of Jewish, Christian and Muslim) interviewed a dozen Ecosex thoughtleaders for the newly minted EcoSex Summit: Live Organically, Love Orgasmically.

Strangely, most of the contributing voices are from outside the traditional green movement.

As a ardent advocate for Ecosexuality (or sexecology, another term to describe the philosophy), I was honored to speak with Alan and Farhana twice. My first lecture introduces the basic tenets of Ecosex, and my subsequent telesummit focuses on my eBook. People Planet Pleasure Purpose: Five Meaningful Ways to Embody Eco-Conscious Intimacy (Available EarthDay, April 22, 2012 to subscribers of www.tinamariebernard.com), does more than discuss the joys of making love organically. It links these green intentions to better stewardship of the planet.

I’m on fire for this topic. In the past six months, I started a dynamic Facebook Ecosex Group with participants from around the globe. This summer will mark the third Ecosex Summit in the states, of which I’ll be participating. My gratitude the editor of Green Prophet, Karin Kloosterman, cannot be overstated. She opened the door to exploring the interplay between our planet and our private lives. When we first discussed the idea, we were both taking a chance. Karin, because of the sensitive nature for a conservative audience, and me because my green blogging experience was until then limited.

In the intervening three years, I’ve observed the sex-positive community commandeers the Ecosex discussion.  Ecosex has exploded in popularity among those whose sexual proclivities would make many blush. They are serious about their efforts and intention to green their intimate ecosystems for more than pleasure’s sake. This is about environmentalism through and through. Sustainability in the bedroom translating into absolute adoration and caretaking of planet earth. It covers sexual health, spirituality, ancient wisdom, optimal nutrition, women’s issues and eco-feminism and love and relationships.

So why the dull echo amongst those who proclaim to care so much about these very subjects?

How do I know – because I’ve pitched dozens of stories on deaf, non-responsive ears. One could suppose the problem is me. My writing stinks or my lack of green credentials deem me unworthy for the likes of the big wigs on the other side of the Atlantic. Except, I can say with strong confidence that there’s more than rejecting my stories to this story.

You see, cccasionally, another traditional environmental site has picked up the narrative, but what they’ve had to say about Ecosex has often been as unimaginative as a turnip. Take this silly nonsense (I’m not naming the site or the author to save them embarrassment):

 Take this quiz and tally your points at the end to find out how eco you actually are.

1. What’s in your top drawer?

A. Underpants and socks (1 point)

B. Underpants and a copy of World Changing (2 points)

C. Underpants and a Secrets of Sacred Sex DVD (3 points)

2. What is climate porn?

A. A scary way to describe global warming (3 points)

B. Pornography watched in a hot room (1 point)

C. A sexy movie shot in an equatorial country (2 points)

Seriously, that’s all they can say about Ecosex? Some silly quiz about sock drawers. A lack of understanding about how this matters throws us all under the bus, leaving us to choke on the fumes.

Do they not understand the importance of sex in everyday living? Nevermind that it is the most natural thing for all living things to do – procreate and please – but that our current sexualove experiences are muted by environmental pollutants cutting at the very core of our sexual health, vitality and wellbeing. Quite simply, the Environmental movement is missing a robust opportunity to garner a major influx of enthusiastic green beings.  By refusing to acknowledge that intimacy is at the heart of all matters, including correct stewardship of our natural resources, green activists are being upstaged by polyamorists, queers, tantrikas, doms and all sorts of alternative folks (no judgement call here – I’m just glad someone is loving the green way).

Really, that’s the best environmentalists can do?

I wrote my book to wake ordinary people up. If the environmentalists won’t take charge en masse of Ecosex, maybe soccer moms (or in the case of the Middle East, Shuk Moms) will see this light. Mother Earth doesn’t need us to survive, but we need her first. Better make sure comes first. There’s no clearer path that I can see to illuminate that need than by pointing out where our neglect will hurt most – our sexual lives and procreative futures.

Sex sells. In this case, it also really matters. My book, People Planet Pleasure Purpose: 5 Meaningful Ways to Embody Eco-Conscious Intimacy will be available on Sunday, April 22, 2012 in time for Earth Day. It’s free to subscribers to my site, at least for the time being. My hope – and this is a planetary goal, not just a concerned blogger tooting her horn – is that enough people will read it and become Ambassadors of the Ecosex revolution.

And maybe, just maybe, one of those editors or publishers in the green writing world will give the topic a second glance.

They’ll know where to find me. I’ve sent them dozens of emails, tweets, Facebook requests and more.

Tinamarie Bernard is the author of People Planet Pleasure Purpose, an Ecosex eBook, out Earth Day, 2012. Follow her @ModernLoveMuse. She also blogs at www.tinamariebernard.com.

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The idea is commendable – get contraception into the hands of those who want to prevent unwanted pregnancy but cannot afford or don’t have access to it. With all things environmental, however, the devil is in the details, and in the case of a newly launched website that intends to be conscious about contraception, a sweeping case of greenwashing may be putting chemicals into chemistry, instead of the other way around. Fortunately, as front runners for ecosex, we recommend better contraception options.

The company, Conscious Contraception calls itself a, “globally conscious organization delivering contraceptives directly to the consumer through the convenient and discreet online store.” They partner with US and international companies to promote sex education, reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections, and decrease the number of unwanted pregnancies.

They state that a portion of every purchase will be donated to purchase contraception for under-served communities in the United States and abroad. You can read their full mission statement here.

No specific mention is made of the Middle East region, though Greenprophet.com reported recently on a condom company that is focused on Africa, including MENA nations.

Whether or not they are able to “transform customers into benefactors” by setting up their site, some very real problems persist, less with the model, and more with the products sold.

For example, many makers of personal lubrication massage oils and body creams that are sold use ingredients in their products that can irritate the skin, particularly the delicate genital area.  In addition to irritation, petrobased chemicals in personal use products are associated with rash, fatigue, cutaneous skin lesions, internal lesions, nerve degeneration, thrush and candida infections, inflammation, and myalgia.  Some forms of glycerin can lead to yeast infections in women: vegetable-based glycerin is thought by some to be a better option.

Case in point: both Astroglide and KY Jelly brands manufacture and sell lubricants that contain petrochemicals including, but not exclusively or limited to Polyquaternium 15, methylparaben, and propylparaben, propylene glycol.

The Organic Consumers Organization lists ten synthetic chemicals to avoid in personal use, with explanations for why these are potentially harmful, noxious or toxic. Greenprophet.com has also reported on toxic products to avoid in The Ins and Outs of Eco-Friendly Vaginal Lubrication.

In that article, we wrote:

Compounds to avoid include, but are not limited to the following: Any benzene derivatives such as sodium benzoate, methyl, ethyl and propylparaben, and benzoate of soda. Boric acid, salicylates and cinnamic aldehyde (an ingredient used in ‘hot’ lubricants) are also problematic. For a more complete list, click here and here. These are often used as solvents or preservatives.

Other concerns include the types of condoms sold. While condoms are known to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (a good thing), it’s important to view their use through environmental lenses if we want to fully evaluate their ecosexual impact. What are they made of? Natural rubber latex that is naturally and sustainably harvested is a better choice than those made of artificial materials known to irritate vaginal tissue (unless someone has an allergy to latex).  Companies such as LoveBeginsWithL.com are working to provide better condoms, prophylactics that are manufactured to higher standards that do less to compromise the health of the planet and lovers alike.

Our bottom line ecosexual green assessment: No matter how many free products or educational resources they may provide, any website that calls itself conscious but sells products containing potentially harmful ingredients is potentially misleading consumers and the disadvantaged to think that the options are environmentally optimal.

In my opinion, there is nothing ecosexually more discouraging than companies who use environmental slogans to sell us products that do not help us make love more organically. A green collar economy requires businesses to consider all facets of the products and services sold. In the case of contraception, better options would be to at a minimum include products that are environmentally safe, sustainably harvested and prevent pregnancy without compromising health or sexual pleasure. Educational programs that provide information regarding the ecological impact of the products offered would be an additional value-added service.

For those who are interested in learning more about contraception from an eco-conscious point of view, we recommend reading How do Treehumpers Prevent Pregnancy? and Ecosex: Go Green Between the Sheets and Make Your Love Life Sustainable (2010), by Stefanie Iris Weiss.

Read More Ecosexual Health News:
The Ins and Outs of Eco-Friendly Vaginal Lubrication
GM Foods Shrinking Reproductive Health in Womb Near You
Ecosexual Condom ‘Company Love Begins with L’ Empowering Third World Sexual Health

Tinamarie is a regular contributor to Greenprophet.com. Follow her @ModernLoveMuse. She blogs at www.tinamariebernard.com. Photo via: dno1967b

The post Is Conscious Contraception Site Selling a Bag of Toxic Tricks? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Next time your partner suggests you keep the lights on in your bedroom, tell him his prostate and your breasts are better off under the illumination of the moon, and your want to make sure your personal life is as sustainably safe and pleasurable as possible. The link between artificial light and prostate and breast cancer has been attributed to exposure to artificial light, with the recent study from Haifa University confirming that it’s not just exposure to outdoor or workplace lights, but light at home that elevates one’s risk for developing both diseases.

From a report in the Jerusalem Post:

The retrospective study was carried out on 1,679 Jewish and Arab Israeli women and the level of light to which they were exposed in their bedrooms – from street lamps outside the window, another room or night lights in the room.

Even the light of a TV set was examined as a factor. Almost half contracted breast cancer.

They were controlled for medical and family history, socioeconomic status, alcohol usage, number of children and other factors.

The increased risk appears to stem from long time exposure to artificial lights during the nighttime hours. This leads to a reduced production of the hormone melatonin, which then interferes with cell division.  A disruption in cell division is one way cancerous growths develop.

Until the past few years, many people might not have thought of artificial light as a pollutant that could cause cancer.  The researchers working out of Israel pointed out that it is “without doubt an irrevocable part of Western life, and its influence will only increase with the years,” but that it “can be easily be controlled.”

Shut off the lights in your bedroom: It’s yet another way for environmentalists to be ecosexy, whether love or sleep are on the agenda.

:: Image: Diana Blackwell

Read More Reproductive Health News:
GM Foods Shrinking Sexual Health in a Womb Near You
Israeli Sperm Count Drops a Whopping Forty Percent
Can a Male Birth Control Pill Save the Environment?
Natural Herbs for Breast Health and Enhancement

Tinamarie is a regular contributor to Greenprophet.com. Follow her @ModernLoveMuse. She blogs at www.tinamariebernard.com.

The post How Turning Off the Lights at Night Will Help You Avoid Certain Cancers appeared first on Green Prophet.

The birth control pill is one of the most popular forms of birth control in the world, but a new study finds that it can greatly diminish the sexual experience.

Pregnancy prevention, reproductive rights and health go hand in hand, with activists touting the importance of the birth control pill to advancing women’s sovereignty over their own bodies despite also deleterious consequences of those hormones making it into our water.  In our previous post on more eco-friendly ways to prevent pregnancy, we discussed some of the pros and cons of hormones and the alternatives. What was left unsaid, and often assumed by many, is that today’s birth control pills are vastly different from those used generations ago. Specifically, modern options have lower levels of hormones, and this could translate to fewer waste products finding its way into our water streams.

This may or may not be the case, however, a new study from Indiana University examined another assumption about those lower hormone levels, and found they interfere with a woman’s ability to enjoy her body to the fullest.

Specifically, many of the same problems related to women’s pleasure remain, despite formula and delivery changes to the birth control pill. What’s doubling vexing is that studies on a male pill are intent on pleasure first by making sure they don’t interfere with a man’s ability to maintain an erection.

From Sciencedaily.com:

An Indiana University study that examined how newer forms of hormonal contraception affect things such as arousal, lubrication and orgasm, found that they could still hamper important aspects of sexuality despite the family planning benefits and convenience.

“Contraception in general is a wonderful way for women to plan their families,” said lead researcher Nicole Smith, project coordinator at IU’s Center for Sexual Health Promotion. “It’s something women are often on for as many as 30 years or more; it plays a huge part in their life. If they’re experiencing these negative effects, they might stop using contraception correctly or altogether. They need to know that there are options, such as lubricants or other sexual enhancement products that may help to alleviate some of the negative effects they are experiencing.

“Women should also be counseled on the many highly effective forms of birth control currently available; switching to another method might work better for them,” she said.

The study involved 1,101 sexually active women split almost evenly between those using a hormonal form of contraception such as the pill, patch, ring or shot, and those women using a non-hormonal form, such as a condom, diaphragm, cervical cap or withdrawal.

The study, based on data collected by the Kinsey Institute’s Women’s Well-being study, which used an online questionnaire, found that the women reported similar levels of sexual satisfaction, which included things such as intimacy and romance, but the women using hormonal contraception experienced less arousal, fewer orgasms, difficulties with lubrication, decreased pleasure and less frequent sex.

“A great effort has been made to make condoms more pleasurable for men,” Smith said. “But you don’t hear about this same effort going toward reducing the negative impact of contraception on women’s sexual functioning. It’s just not part of the discussion.”

What’s the relevance to sustainability in the Middle East? In addition to opening up the dialogue about women’s reproductive well-being, studies like this support efforts to make love better, more organically, to fully unleash the numerous health benefits: improved mood, increased immune and cardio functions, brain growth, etc.

After all, chemistry without chemicals is an essential part of ecosex.

Read More Reproductive Health News:

GM Foods Shrinking Sexual Health in a Womb Near You

Ecosexy Condom Company “Love Begins With L” Empowering Female Health

Can a Male Birth Control Pill Save the Environment?

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As a philosophy, ecosexuality is quite new even to many environmentalists who are keen on greening their personal lives yet are unaware of this socially transformative movement.  From using eco-friendly lubrication to maintaining healthy reproductive and sexual well-being, to adopting the ideals of ecology in one’s primary relationship, ecosex is many things to many observers and mavericks, including myself, who support the idea of sustainable love that is good for people and the planet. Now those who imagine a greener way to love, including lovers in the Middle East, can lend their voice to the symphony and help create as well as advance the idea of what it means to go “green between the sheets.”

Green Prophet is the sole English-language voice in the Middle East that offers a platform for discussing the tenets of ecosexuality, and we’ve expressed the regional importance of the relationship between ecosex and global peace.  Other venues are also advancing the vision of more earth friendly relations between partners and lovers. Specifically, ecosex advocates are collaborating to create an anthology of essays and other creative contributions to highlight eco-sexual practices and their importance to the environmental movement.

From the call for submissions:

Ecosexuality has emerged as a socially transformative movement where the energies of activism, art, theory, and practice coalesce…Ecosex activism brings more fun, passion, hope and diversity to the environmental and holistic health movements.  It generates global awareness of love as the ecology of life on planet Earth…Ecosexuality revisits every aspect of life as an opportunity for the intellectual, spiritual, political and artistic expression of ecosexual love…

Contributions will be accepted in various forms, including academic studies, philosophical, theoretical, and critical articles, reports from the field, testimonial narratives, interviews, poems, performance pieces, artists’ pages or other visual representations, reports from events, courses, and other transformative experiences.

Submissions and inquiries, due March 1, 2012, should be sent to serena.anderlini@gmail.com or bethstephens@me.com.

Read More Ecosexuality News:
GMOs Shrinking Reproductive Health in a Womb Near You
Fundamentals of Ecosexuality: Is Conscious Love the Way Towards Global Peace?
World Renowned Author Dishes on GINKS, Green Sex and Making Love to Planet Earth

Tinamarie is a regualr contributor to Greenprophet.com.  She blogs at www.tinamariebernard.com

The post International Call for Papers: Ecosexuality Anthology appeared first on Green Prophet.