-Carina Kolodny

I was chatting with a friend and he started telling me that he and his girlfriend had made a pact to have an eco-friendly sex life. "Wait. HOLD ON!"  I said, flustered and confused. "What’s so eco-dangerous about sex?"

Apparently a lot.

Between fossil fuel based lubes and toxic sex toys, it would seem that greening up your sex life has a lot of positive potential. Luckily for all of us, companies from all around the world are responding to this eco-need by creating fun and innovative sex products. But where (or how) to start?

Try a vegan or organic lubricant, such as the full line by yesyesyes.org They boast that their lubes are good for you and good for the environment without sacrificing any performance quality.

As for Condoms? Here’s a fun factoid: the government of Brazil recently built a condom factory! What’s their aim? Using rubber from trees in the Amazon to slow down deforestation AND providing free condoms to Brazil’s citizens in an effort to combat HIV/AIDS.

Probably never thought you’d be donning tree pruning scraps when you wanted to settle in with your significant other, huh? Enter Enamore. A trendy fashion company that recently introduced a line of lingerie. Their intimates are made of organic hemp, recycled fabrics and, you guessed it, tree pruning scraps!

Also worth scoping out is Earth Erotics, an online company focusing on environmentally friendly sex, has compiled an entire internet boutique chocked full of everything from organic cotton linens to animal shaped vibrators.

Have a fun time going all the way… green that is!

-Carina Kolodny

             

They proliferate in the back of your closet—duplicating and duplicating. You tell yourself that you’ll wear it to bed or sport it at the gym—or you accept the reality that you’ll never wear it but just can’t bare to throw it away because you wore it every day in second grade or you got it on a meaningful trip or it reminds you of your first concert.

So what can you do with the impending explosion in your closet?

Recycle it into something new!

Check out our tried-and-true eco arts n crafts:

1. Transform your T! generationt.com has tons of ideas and directions on how to cut, sew, pin, tie, braid, fray, loop etc. your old t-shirt! Turning that drab “brace face” shirt from your orthodontist into something fresh and fashionable. Some of the projects are quite intense but there are plenty that can be completed and mastered by even the most artistically challenged.
2. Ever tried your hand at quilting? Cut and sew your shirts into a pillow case or a tote bag or a huge quilt!
3. If you’re not so creatively inclined or just can’t find the time, there are multiple companies that will take your t-shirts and make the quilt for you. Try: Campus Quilt Company at campusquilt.com

-Carina Kolodny

Looking for skincare products can be such a whirlwind… There are so many companies, so many lines, and so many products. Do you need a mask or a toner or a moisturizer or a cleanser? How many lotions should you actually put on your face? And with new products that have prices reaching up towards the three digits, how much money can you really afford to spend?

The truth is, many of the things we put on our face and body are chocked full of crazy ingredients. Many of which are not so good for the environment and, not surprisingly, not so good for your skin. So it’s no wonder that eco-friendly, economic-savvy guys and girls are switching up their style with a little DIY action.

We’re going to keep giving you new beauty recipes… so check back often and give 'em a go!

Here’s a simple moisturizer that you can easily make with ingredients you already have!

You’ll need:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 beaten egg yolk
• 2-3 tbsp lemon juice (depending upon how thick you want the cream)

Whisk the egg yolks with the lemon juice and slowly add the olive and vegetable oils!

You’ve saved yourself some cash, you’ve given your skin a lovely snack and you’ve greened up your beauty routine. After you’ve tried the recipe, let us know what you thought by commenting below!

-Carina Kolodny

I’ve always been into adding flair to my school and work space. Plain notebooks and number two pencils have never quite been my forte. I was that kid in your class when you were eight who had six different colors of jelly pencil grips and collected farm animal eraser tops. I put glittery star stickers on my homework before I even turned it in and had the most blinding neon green pencil case anybody had ever seen. Now, as a twenty something, I would like to think that my style has evolved… at least, slightly. I’m still into all things colorful but I think I have found a more adult solution to my inherent need for sparkle. I am newly addicted to ecojot! A 100% post-consumer recycled line of paper products. They have agendas, workbooks, journals, sketchbooks, folders… The list goes on and on. And what’s better? All of the beautiful covers are made with vegetable-based, biodegradable inks. There are designs to fit everybody—from the guy who wants to play it subtle to the girl who wants to roar her love of pink whirlagigs from the rooftops.

Check out all of their products at ecojot.com

-Carina Kolodny

This hot environmentalist has teamed up with producer Peter Glatzer to head a new production company, Reconcile, in the hope of spreading awareness on green living. They aired a new series last year called “Alter Eco” on Planet Green, the first channel entirely devoted to environmental issues.

The show is about a “green team” of designers and lifestyle makeover experts who teach celebrities and ordinary people to go green in cool, hip new ways. Adrian is not joking when it comes to altering his lifestyle. He does more than just drive the eco-friendly Prius; he uses recycled jeans for insulation in his Brooklyn home!

While People Magazine named Adrian as one of the 14 sexiest guys who can stop traffic without even trying, the Vail Film Festival gave him the 2008 Blue Sky Award for Environmental Activism. This is exactly why the Insider has tagged this hotty as Eco-sexy!

In 1989, Sting and his wife Trudie Styler founded the Rainforest Foundation. According to its Web site, the mission of the foundation is to support native people of the world’s rainforests and help them protect their environment. They call their approach “rights-based forestry,” which means they promote social justice for those living in the rainforests while working to stop worldwide destruction. The Rainforest Foundation currently works in Belize, Brazil, Ecuador, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama and Suriname, among other countries.

Sting also hosts an annual benefit concert to raise money for the Rainforest Foundation. Artists like Sheryl Crow, Billy Joel, Brian Wilson and Lenny Kravitz have participated in the past.

Visit The Rainforest Foundation’s Web site at http://www.rainforestfoundation.org/en/node/1 to learn more about Sting’s ecological efforts. And remember, every little thing you do to help is magic.

Julia strongly believes that the smallest changes can make the biggest differences in our lives. This is why she wants to make sure that her day-to-day duties are helping pave a better future for the world her children will be living in. She does this by keeping an organic garden; minimizing waste with flushable diapers; taking fewer showers; using non-toxic female products; making her own green cleaning supplies; using solar panels and recycled tiles; shopping with reusable bags; and building with wood taken from sustainably managed forests.

Apart from going green in her house, Julia has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show to spread the word on why it is essential for everyone to do their part. According to People Magazine, she is also a spokesperson for Earth Biofuels, a renewable energy company.

Help make Julia’s famous million-dollar smile even bigger and to find out more about the tips this “Pretty Woman” has for saving the environment, visit http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/green-living/celebrity-eco-friendly-tips.

It would seem that's how Kesh Kumari handles all aspects of her life but today we'll only focus on how she handles her fashion. Of Malaysian and Trinidadian descent and hailing from East London, Kesh Kumari shops and dresses outside of the mainstream. She doesn't spend hours inside of malls following the latest trends but instead you'd find her in any thrift shop buying clothes from another life, time, and even era! With that, she rips it all apart and creates new pieces that reflect her personal style, technique and way of life.

I first caught Kesh on one of Current TV's short docs that showed her tearing up a moo-moo and turning it into a fabulous mini-dress within 15 minutes. Covered in safety pins (including a permanent one tatooed on the back of her neck) she races off to a photo shoot for her new line of t-shirts. She immediately struck me as a hip and modern rebel that with her rebellious ways avoids the mainstream looks, attitude and structure. Her t-shirts carry her personal designs. Her latest line of abstract art combined with day-to-day images, to me, halfly represents her. Just as her day-to-day wear represents anything that had a story and can be made into a new one, she too is a bit abstract. What's even more eccentric about this young modern rebel is that after she sifts through thrift shops and rips up old clothes all day, at night, she hits up clubs all over the world as a co-DJ. So Kesh Kumari is pumping up the volume not only in fashion but in the music world as well!

What I find to be the best part about Kesh though, is the fact that she does these things because it's who she is. She isn't trying to wear the latest brand or spend all of her money on items that would be out of date in just a few months time. She likes her style because its different from anyone else and whether she knows it or not, she's one of the greenest people out there. She saves money, the environment and her integrity all at once. We should all look into styling ourselves in this fashion, it could just be our way of doing things.

For more on Kesh Kumari check out her blogs on myspace or facebook and if you'd like to support a new type of fashion, check out her site http://www.inaworldofherown.com/ for t-shirts already on sale! Limited time only...of course!

Written by: Gloria M Camacho