There’s no doubt that sex toys and personal lubricants are fun, and that condoms are a necessity for any person who likes to have safer sex. But in our opinion, some sex accessories are more fun than others because they are safer for you and the environment.

And that’s why we were thrilled to see that Jeffrey Hollender, former Seventh Generation CEO, and Meika Hollender, his daughter, founded Sustain, a condom and personal sex aid company.

Sustain’s main goal is to sell personal lubricants and condoms that are sustainable and healthy for consumers. In addition, 50 percent of Sustain is owned by women. Treehugger points out that that’s quite important considering the condom industry is typically riddled with male-dominated marketing. (And that women who buy and carry condoms are typically stigmatized and slut shamed.)

According to Treehugger, Sustain’s condoms are packaged in recycled packaging, and are Fair Trade certified. Also: Sustain’s condoms contain no “detectable traces of nitrosamine, a carcinogenic that occurs in rubber in the manufacturing process.”

Sustain’s other product, its organic lubricant, are equally impressive. The lubricant, which comes in unscented and lavender, contains aloe vera, as well as xantham gum, agar, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate (food grade preservatives), and lactic acid, reports Treehugger. The lubes also are vegan, gluten-free, and are not tested on animals.

Luckily, Sustain isn’t the only company that’s gotten into the sustainable sex game. We found a few other companies that take consumers’ health and the environment’s well being into consideration.

Intimate Organics: The company sells flavored glides, intimate cleansing products, massage oil, gels and sprays, and glides. “All Intimate Organic products are made with USDA Board Certified Organic Extracts and are Paraben and DEA Free.” They also are all vegan.

Good Clean Love: This company sells organic lubricants, body candies, and arousal love oils. It also has a strong environmental policy: The company uses certified organic and clean ingredients in all its products, uses recycled and recyclable materials in its packaging when possible, and doesn’t test on animals.

Do you have any favorite sustainable sex products that you use regularly?

Related on EcoSalon

Sex and KY Jelly (Everything You Ever Wanted to Know…But Were Afraid to Ask)

Sex Lube: Your Own Personal Oil Slick

The Male Birth Control Pill is a Reality: Call Your Boyfriend or Husband Over!

Image of couple on beach via Shutterstock

The post 3 Companies that Make Sustainable Sex Sexy appeared first on EcoSalon.

When you come in from working all day on the Farmville, check out Urbanville life in the new online game RETROFITS. Launched by the California software company, Autodesk, it features talking buildings that encourage players to learn the benefits of eco upgrades to our city dwellings.

As the makers see it, “Buildings are the number one source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S,” and we need to make buildings better with sustainable and energy efficient design.

“Don’t just stand there,” they tell us, “Play the game, post your high score, and invite your friends to compete – every little fit helps.”

In other words, follow the Farmville route to creating a cooperative green mentality.

More cooperation is needed on the part of architects, engineers, builders, designers and others in the housing trade. According to ArchDaily, a substantial 8 percent of all carbon emissions in America come from powering our buildings and experts say we can achieve half the goal of cutting down on those emissions 60 to 90 percent by 2050.

Want to get started doing your part? Play the game here and let us know how you like it.

The post Retrofits: New Online Game Launched to Play Up Green Renovation appeared first on EcoSalon.

Money doesn’t grow on trees, but the excess fruit from a neighbor’s yard can make your diet richer and it won’t cost a dime. Shouldn’t we share the wealth?

That’s the thinking of Neighborhood Fruit, created by San Francisco urban farmers to reduce the tragic waste of fruit, which is forbidden in their vision of sustainability. Their website lets subscribers find and share fruit locally both in backyards and on public lands.

Since planting the seed in June, they’ve attracted between 3,000 and 5,000 visitors a month and located a total of 10,000 trees nationwide and growing.

Much of the fruit the nation consumes is grown in water-intensive orchards far from our homes and shipped at the high cost of fuel. Instead, co-founder Kaytea Petro sees a future where the bulk of seasonal backyard fruit is utilized and shared between neighbors for snacking, baking, putting up organic preserves, even setting up a lemonade stand – any good uses you might have for the bounty.

“I first thought of the idea when I lived on Bernal Hill and my neighbor had an apple tree with a lot of excess fruit that she would never share,” says Petro, who decided to refine the fruit network notion for her graduate thesis at the Presidio School of Management, where she received an MBA in sustainable business.

“We’re a nationwide tool that helps people connect locally,” says Petro. “The typical user is someone with a plum tree who knows what a pain it is when the fruit comes in because it all comes in at once. Those seeking the fruit are into making pies and jams or to show their city kids where food comes from.”

The mechanics of connecting are simple. I register my lemons and oranges and when the fruit arrives, I put out the word on the site. “Come and get it!” I decide if I want to pick it myself or have interested takers come over with their bushels to help pick what they want.

It seems to be attracting those who don’t want to go through the red tape of becoming a registered producer who sells at the farmers’ market, the only way to sell fruit legally.

“It can be a lot of paperwork,” observes Petro, who adds that 25% of her users are people with fruit trees. And for obvious reasons, those with trees in L.A., Miami and Austin see more of a year-round yield than those in Boston and Seattle.

In addition to making connections, Petro and co-founder, Oriana Sarac, manage a monthly newsletter, The Grapevine, featuring the voices of gardeners, bee keepers and other experts in the field, as well as a blog for sharing timely articles, recipes and success stories.

They call their neighbor fruit sharing network Fruitfillment. Anyone who believes in this vision for making use of our abundance knows the ripe concept is fulfilling a mission, indeed.

Images: DieselDemon, Seph Swain, Neighborhood Fruit

The post Forget Borrowing a Cup of Sugar When Neighbors Are Giving Away Fruit! appeared first on EcoSalon.

Metropolitan Home is being put to bed for good.

I suffered reflux trying to digest the death of Gourmet, one of four Condé Nast publications closed recently. I didn’t sample the food bible much but felt nostalgic about it as an American institution. I only picked up Modern Bride a few times when plotting my wedding. (I had the main prop but needed flowers and a dress.)

Now, achy-breaky heartburn ensues from Hachette’s news about dumping Metropolitan Home.

Set to fold after its December issue, the loss of the treasured shelter guide is another casualty of the ad recession – in fact, the biggest casualty to date.

It has taken about 30 years, but the ultimate collapse is what my harshly prophetic broadcast journalism teachers at Northwestern predicted in the early 80s, proclaiming, “Print is dead!”

The grim forecast prompted many of us grad students to seek careers in television, only to make our way back to print eventually. Dying or not, it offered dignity. Print was where the rubber met the road in terms of writing acumen. The words didn’t always have to match the pictures. Imagine that.

I had a personal connection to Met Home, the uber source of swank urban nesting. I began as a fan, dovetailing pages challenging us to uplift our rooms with color, modern accessories, innovative gadgets and accessible art. It had a soft spot for small spaces urban dwellers could afford. Make puny pads bold, we were told.

Later, I became a contributor. When I first hooked up with Met I was a burned-out CNN writer and reporter, frustrated by the network’s ranting, mediocre producers, sensational live coverage and zero commitment to covering visual art.

I got up the nerve to phone Met one day from the Omni to pitch a few story ideas. I was merely a fan. A fan with a good resume: I worked at CNN. I had grown up in the housing design business. I desperately wanted in.

An erudite senior editor, John Sweeney, was happy to bite when I suggested a piece on world-famous pop artist, Kenny Scharf. The magazine was going through that we need hot celebs on the cover phase and my timing was excellent. God, I miss the 80s!

Nevermind that I hadn’t spoken to my college friend in years; that didn’t keep me from exploiting the connection. After all, Kenny and I had slow-danced together like Fred and Ginger in our dorm elevators, singing Cheek to Cheek. He owed me.

I called Kenny and boom, kismet! He graciously invited me to his upstate Hudson Valley Charles Addams-style manse which he had transmogrified into a graffiti palace with his signature cartoon aliens, atomic whirls and swirls. He was even producing ancient-future furniture that was an extension of his art. Right up Met Home’s alley. Lucky, lucky me.

I never turned back after that, and Met Home invited me to continue on as a Southeast editor, contributing cutting-edge articles on inner city housing projects and urban architecture.

I found Met was always on the cusp of all that is modern and functional, all that enhances our visual world, and that happened to include good green living.

The magazine should be proud of its April 2009 eco issue, which, like many of its best editions, entertained and informed while sharing valuable decor resources. This, in addition to consistent annual coverage of “the best little green houses,” and other examples of how the world of design is making strides in sustainable living.

But pride won’t keep you afloat when the dollars go down the drain. The biggest and most prestigious victim of the ad recession has fallen. Thirteen editorial staffers will join the growing list of unemployed journalists, including Donna Warner, the editor-in-chief for the past 17 years.

Warner, who replaced wonderful Dorothy Kalins, worked at Met Home for 26 years, joining shortly after it was founded at Meredith Corp, where it was introduced in 1974 as Apartment Life.

“I created this baby and loved it a lot,” said Warner. “It’s very sad. That’s what happens when you lose one of your children.”

My journalism instructors would boast “We told you so!” And now, I must admit, I  finally believe them. Print is dead.

While I know we will save paper, it just won’t be the same not being able to tear out pages of great sofas and chairs when I’m in the dentist waiting room or at the beauty salon. Saving them on the old Crackberry just isn’t the same kind of tactile experience.

This is the latest installment in Luanne’s column, Life in the Green Lane.

The post Met Home Is Where the Heart Was appeared first on EcoSalon.

Nothing goes together like a recession and a paint brush.

If you can’t afford to remodel (and who can?) and are stuck with a peeling, fiberglass clawfoot tub, tap into some ingenuity and resource non-toxic paints and supplies, pure shower curtains, an organic floor mat and go to town.

If you’re opting to go the DIY tub redux route you will want to bone up on stripping off the old finish first. You can visit many good how-to tutorials at sites like ehow. Or,  if you have the budget, hire a tub refinishing service, like Bay Area Coatings. Either way, you are salvaging an old treasure that adds oodles of character to the modern bath.

Here are a few cool designs to inspire:

Steal this teal kids’ bath design from Canadian House and Home.

Basking in blue is oh-so-country French. Eating a baguette in the bain is nice, too. From Apartment Therapy.

How succulent is this cool citrus desert palette from Decorology?

Some lemon aid to brighten the old friend from Country Living.

Basic black is tres chic and sleek, from Happy Living Design.

Stripes to center the mod energy of the citified clawfoot, from Apartment  Therapy.

Check out other DIY ideas at this cute site.

Main Image: Fixer Upper

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