Are you an ecosexual?

If you think the Earth is a sensual place worth saving, you could be…

The ecosexual

Artists and educators Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens coined the term “ecosexual” in 2009 as a person who considers the Earth a lover, rather than a mother.

To drive this relationship-status home, Sprinkle and Stephens have staged almost 15 large-scale weddings to the Earth, moon, sun, and sea.

This all could seem a bit… much. But the couple insists that their works and art are truly meant to give the environmental movement a fun and diverse twist.

“You might give your mother a hard time and she’ll put up with it, but with a lover it’s a question of give and take and, ecosexuals believe, that’s just what the planet needs right now,” The Guardian reports.

Sustainable love

Any person who wants to help the Earth knows that keeping one’s relationship with the planet sustainable is important.

This kind of sustainable, reciprocal relationship is what ecosexuality is all about. Instead of just taking from the Earth, human beings must give back, Stephens says.

“This movement is so important now because climate change is endangering the Earth and all of its inhabitants,” she adds.

“We cannot continue practicing business as usual because that system is destroying the very resources, such as water, that all living beings need to stay alive and flourish.”

Thinking outside the box

The Earth is free of gender. And Sprinkle and Stephens think this gender-free distinction could help people better respect the planet and its resources.

“Thinking of the Earth as male or female reifies binary thinking,” Stephens explains.

“This allows us to privilege one thing over another. It makes some things worth keeping and others… not so much.”

It’s not such a crazy idea. After all, throughout history, westerners have privileged culture over nature. And Stephens thinks the world’s current ecological crises is the result of that thinking.

These ecosexuals may be on to something…

In addition to discussing ecosexuality, Stephens and Sprinkle make art, create performance and theater pieces, give lectures, and produce and direct films. Find out more about their work here.

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The post Are You Ready to Come Out as an ‘Ecosexual’? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Valentine’s Day is full of heartfelt gestures. Although some of those gestures are beautiful, others could damage another thing you love: Planet Earth.

So, we’ve come up with three ways you can show your partner you care that won’t sour your relationship with the planet.

1. Plant blooms

Red roses are gorgeous. But red roses also are expensive and are typically shipped in from another country. And because red roses are the Valentine’s Day show stopper, you can multiply those shipping costs by… a lot.

Instead of buying a dozen red roses, invest in a beautiful pot, some gardening gloves, potting soil, grow lights, and various rose seeds, or a rose start.

Although this gift isn’t traditionally beautiful outright, your partner will enjoy more than a dozen blooms in his or her favorite color once the flowers mature.

In addition to getting more bang for your buck, you could also plan a special day in late spring or early summer to plant the roses. Then, once the seeds or start grows and begin to bloom, you can have a relaxing date outside.

2. Go local

Sure, those stuffed animals that line your local drugstore shelves are cute, but they’re constructed overseas and made from less than sustainable components.

Get your lover a Valentine gift from a local shop, or a sweet treat from a local artisan. Your town most likely is filled with local artists who make intricate, heartfelt Valentine cards, beautiful, handmade jewelry and mouthwatering candies and cakes. After all, who really wants a basic tennis bracelet from a chain jewelry store?

3. Stay in

We’re talking no driving, no ordering take out, and no movie out. Keep your carbon footprint low by buying your Valentine’s day dinner and dessert ingredients when you do your weekly grocery shopping.

Then, on Valentine’s day, get a fire going, light some candles, turn off the lights and enjoy your partner’s company. Consider breaking out board games… or making your own Valentine‘s Day-themed game.

Take the time to reconnect with your favorite person sans electronic distractions. After all, time alone with your lover is never a bad thing.

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The post 3 Ways to Show Your Valentine You Care (Without Cheating the Planet) appeared first on EcoSalon.

What if we told you that men and some of their toxic masculinity habits are reallllly bad for the environment?

Well. Technically it’s not mens’ fault… it’s society’s.

It’s all about branding

We all know how marketing works. A company’s marketing team gets an idea in its collective head about who their target market is.

So, when marketers caught wind that women tend to respond to healthy messages, and, on average, respond to messages about preserving the environment more, “caring about the environment” became a feminine… “thing.”

The research

The researchers also discovered that when given the choice between green batteries and regular batteries, men bought the regular ones, and men also tended to respond better to environmental companies that use a more masculine logo.

“Stereotypical feminine behavior and attitudes are more in parallel with taking care of the environment,” Wilkie says of the findings.

“Male traits tend to conflict with this idea of maintaining a nice environment for other people.”

He also cites that historically, data has shown that men tend to feel like they will be perceived as weak, etc. if they drink, eat, etc. “girly” things.

Come on, guys. You’re better than this! Man up for the Earth already.

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Image of man via Shutterstock

The post Take a Chill Pill, Dude: Your Toxic Masculinity is Hurting the Earth appeared first on EcoSalon.

The world is covered with valuable dirt that makes life possible. But like most things good on this planet, humans are mucking it all up.

Watch the video below to find out how we’re messing up Earth this time.

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The post The World’s Dirt is in Trouble [Video] appeared first on EcoSalon.

So, you’re trying to take a selfie, and then, all of a sudden, your annoying friend sneaks their head into the shot.

Well, the moon, apparently is that annoying friend to the Earth. Take a look at the larger than life photobomb below.

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The post The Moon has a Lot in Common with Your Annoying Friend [Video] appeared first on EcoSalon.

Caroline Allen‘s “Air,” the sequel to “Earth” and the second novel in Allen’s ‘Elemental Journey’ series, addresses the universal theme of growing up via the unique, other-worldly voice of her début novel.

In the case of protagonist Pearl, growing up means growing away, leaving her rural Missouri for the resolute foreignness of Tokyo, an urban jungle entirely opposite of the earth that anchored her — quite literally — to home in the first book.

Pearl’s “visions” continue to make appearances in this novel, which begins after Pearl has completed journalism school and has made a dozen attempts at skydiving, an activity that allows her to distance herself from the earth to which she was so rooted as a child throughout the first book. Allen’s construction of these visions, which allowed her to gain a true sense of place in her home state, sensing the history of the Osage that once lived there, paves the way for a new sort of vision once Pearl arrives in Tokyo, rootless, raw, and far from home.

“My soul was not used to staying inside,” Pearl says upon her arrival in her new home; it is obvious almost immediately why air was chosen as the representative element of this book. Earth is home, but air is an exploration, a longing, a leaving — while it is a sense with which many can identify, Allen’s characters and keen physical descriptions make this leaving a feeling like no other. As Pearl moves further and further from her roots, she begins to suffocate — in the urban jungle of Tokyo, in the cigarette smoke that blankets her office, in her discovery of herself — though she is unaware. An expatriate and a stranger to this country, Pearl explores the new culture, with its foreign air gods, unique philosophy, and new encounters, all of which are illustrated with this same elemental theme.

“I felt an airy sense I knew him,” she says. “As though our souls had danced in the same place.”

But perhaps the most essential meaning of ‘Air’ is with regards to breath and breathing. At the beginning, Pearl is also a runner, saying that, “Running forced a person to breathe. It forced a person to stop holding their breath. But breathing here could have serious consequences.” This proves to be true, as Pearl begins to smoke more and more cigarettes, causing physical breathing difficulties, but also suppresses more and more of her personal truth, making a meditation session where she is meant to concentrate on her breathing nearly impossible. As she distances herself from the earth, she also seems to become further from herself; this very common post-adolescent feeling of loss of self is illustrated in the other-worldly voice and style unique to Allen.

The book is not without its faults. At some points, the author seems to become too reliant on the narrator’s visions — they become less of a tool and more of a shortcut, making the coincidences Pearl encounters too easy to explain away. There are also several oversights in continuity that become distracting — a last name that changes, or characterization that seems incoherent. Love and lust appear and disappear too quickly and are unexplained; certain characters are used as tools to help the story progress and do not evolve into three-dimensional people on the page.

The narrator, however, saves whatever issues the book displays; Pearl remains the same uncommonly honest character from the first tome: admitting her unfairness to the revolving door of men who seem to pass through her life, her genuine description of her feelings and shortcomings, both emotional and physical, from the odor of her own sweat to the temptation to abandon her friends for the new man in her life.

“I couldn’t cry,” she says at one point. “I didn’t have enough of me left.”

“Air” is, overall, a beautiful story, but not a pretty one. Despite the departure from the earth, the physicality of the original remains — the grime, the stench, the dirt — and it is this that grants the novel its authenticity. It is a genuine book that opens Pearl’s restricted Missouri background to the world, and it paves the way for even more self-discovery in the following installments.

“Air” is available via Amazon on Kindle and in paperback.

Related on Eco Salon

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Image care of Caroline Allen

The post Caroline Allen’s ‘Air’: Jarring, Authentic Prose Explores Leaving Home appeared first on EcoSalon.

Seriously, this Steve Cutts video about man’s impact on the earth will leave you speechless. And hopefully motivated as heck to be more mindful. 

Find Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

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The post Must Watch Animation: How We Effed Up the Earth [Video] appeared first on EcoSalon.

It’s a crazy world we live in.

There’s no better day than Earth Day to learn more about the planet we call home. To help, we present 10 informative graphic representations of the Earth, providing data, statistics, and information on everything from population density to ocean currents to Twitter connections. You know, the important stuff.

An Urban World from Unicef: an interactive map showing world population growth from 1950-2050 (click for interaction)

Geological Time Spiral from the USGS: showcasing the Earth’s storied past

The Hardest Places to Survive on Earth: where not to live

Perpetual Ocean from NASA Goddard Photo and Video: a video visualization of the world’s ocean currents

The Earth at 7 Billion: a snapshot of the world’s population today

A Lonely Planet: a map of the most remote spots on the planet, from the guidebook publisher itself

A Year of Photos from Triposo: different parts of the world light up according to how many photos are shot there throughout the year in this video visualization

The World, As Connected By Twitter: tracking conversations around the world using Twitter’s geolocation feature

Map Shaped By Population Density: an interactive look at the world by population density (click for interaction)

The Environmental Impact of the Internet: In case you needed a reminder to shut off the computer and head outside. Happy Earth Day!

Image: DonkeyHotey

The post 10 Earth Day Infographics appeared first on EcoSalon.

Care for the planet you call home. 

Only when the last tree has been cut down,

Only when the last river has been poisoned,

Only when the last fish has been caught,

Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.

-Cree Indian Prophecy

More quotes that celebrate nature can be found here.

Image: Yann Arthus-Bertrand

The post Respect Earth Every Day appeared first on EcoSalon.

Happy Earth Day!

Around EcoSalon HQ, opinions are divided. While some of us have our reservations about Earth Day – our Editor-in-Chief Sara Ost has a great answer to the question “does Earth Day still matter?” over at Treehugger today – it is an important day for rallying big names around a very important cause, and with enough people rallied around the cause, awareness of environmental issues is more likely to take hold every other 364 days of the year. Former President Bill Clinton is one of those big names, and as a Digg Dialogg Earth Day Special, he sat down with Boback Firoozbakht to answer user submitted questions about the environment, Earth Day and climate change. Take a look at the video, and weigh in with your thoughts about our environmental progress.

Here’s to sustained conversation about the environment every day of the year!

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