From geeks to seeds: Going Green? How to get the most out of your choices.*UPDATED*

Wednesdays post is a bit late because I had to fact check three things before I felt comfortable posting. Todays post is all about you choosing to make everyones life better, improve the environment, help to clean the shit out of our three rivers, and it all starts behind your bedroom door.

Recently F6 was contacted by Fiona King @ Nerds Do It Better (not promoting just citing) and was referred to their fact sheet written by Jessica Hupp that suggested ways to create a more green and eco/environ-healthier sex life. These are some of the twenty seven pointes followed by my commentary, as indicated via the (~) sign. Feel the excitement of going green!!!!

Setting The Mood

* Dim The florescent Lights ~ "What's a gay domicile without having a regulator dial"
* Take advantage of the cold; warm each other up or vice versa
~ cuddle by the fireplace or burn pit out back; soak and, or have sex in the jacuzzi/hot tub.
~ break out the kool aide/juice ice cubes and rub them all over, or just serve over vodka, or gin.
* Natural Aphrodisiacs, Wines, Fair Trade Chocolate ~ strawberries are my favorite addition.
* Wear green friendly lingerie ~ Save the ground, switch to organic, nutrient rich fabrics.

Sex Toys

* Use vegetables and fruits for sex toys
~ although just ensure safety from food allergies please wrap a condom around it before hand!
* Use silicone, metal, or glass sex toys.
~ not vinyl, use faux leather, spandex/lycra, rubber.
* Buy for Durability and Dispose of toys properly
~ Well made items will last longer. Repair it first.
* Use a safe lubricant with a condom!
~ Note gay men DO NOT want to use a condom
or lube with spermicide for anal sex.

For your family as a whole

* Take baths and showers together (see picture above)
* Use organic soy, beeswax, or palm oil candles at the dinner table
~ It saves that florescent bulb; it calms everyone down together; easier to scent.
* Buy Bamboo or Hemp bed sheets @ Target
~ They are renewable; offer a silky, slippery feel;
~ Sure to increase your ecological awareness!
* Put away your large plates ~ When eating at home use salad plates reduce portions.
* Increase intake of organic fruits and vegetables

Most men also need to know "pineapples makes the cream so sweet!, not of wheat."! I know what your thinking. You can understand the idea of high quality, organic, cotton underwear in traditional styles but you are still having a bit of trouble grasping your mind around the idea of designer under garments, essentials wear, and active-sports wear being made from alternative fabrics like hemp, bamboo, and eucalyptus. But yet, you are okay with polypropylene for your winter weather protection?

Taken directly from RIPS MySpace blog:

If someone told you they had a great line of underwear, made from Eucalyptus (and no, scratching & sniffing doesn't work), that those underwear were the Eco-Friendliest underwear on the market... plus naturally stays odor-free... plus feels like silk (we think of it as nature's luxury fabric)... plus helps to keep you cool in hot weather/warm in cool (perfect wearing all year around)... and simply looks great (while wearing)....would you not be just a little intrigued?

When we were looking at fabrics for RIPS Performance we looked at them all, felt them all, and just kept coming back to Tencel (which is made from the Eucalyptus) because it just felt like it would make perfect underwear and activewear. THEN came the fun part and that was finding out how very special it was. Amazing point here - you can make ten t-shirts from Eucalyptus using the same size piece of land that you can make one t-shirt from Cotton. Add to that the Eucalyptus doesn't need any pesticides and requires 100 times LESS water than cotton. Is that not the perfect fabric? So there you have it. Whether you are looking for Eco-Friendly or simply great underwear - check out RIPS Performance. Besides, if Koalas can't resist a good Eucalyptus, how can we?

Why hemp and organic cotton underwear though?
(from RAWGANIQUE)

"Because...it takes one-fourth of a pound of chemicals to produce 2 pairs of conventional cotton men's boxer shorts. Annually, 275 million pounds of pesticides are applied to the conventional cotton plant, which must be the most environmentally destructive crop ever. The pesticides and chemicals used in the growing and processing of conventional cotton can enter the human food chain via cotton seed oil used in processed foods.

Contamination of ground water is directly linked to pesticide and fertilizer use on conventional cotton crops. Nitrates found in these fertilizers are found to cause "blue baby syndrome" in infants. Conventional cotton underwear is also processed with chlorine bleach. Dioxin--the most toxic chemical known--is a carcinogen that is derived from chlorine bleach and is responsible for hormone disruption and a host of other ills."

Which leads me to refreshing more local issues, news, and events. My regular readers will remember when I bitched about the City wasting 500,000 Public Works dollars for matching funds for the bike trail system in order to earn "feel good" national press. During the last episode of Oprah's Big Give this season the City was spotlighted for "raising" a million plus dollars for a revamped bike trail system that is already privately funded! As I stated previously, The City, should have dedicated that money to actually cleaning up the rivers before having the citizens ride around them any further.

Most readers will remember F6's promotion and coverage of Save Maumee's Earth Day Project near Hosy Dam last month too. Save Maumee doesn't just do one work project a year; the work continues every day. The vision of a future where our children can go take a dip in the river and within the next twenty years we might just be able to have a public beach again is possible.

What is in our rivers that makes them so polluted?

E. Coli. and bacteria from combined sewer overflows (CSO's), geese, cattle and pig farms. There are 249 active NPDES permitted discharges (permitted legal discharges) and 44 CSO discharge points in the St. Joseph/Maumee watershed. Additionally there are illegal point source discharges such as tiles discharging septic tank effluent that exist in our watershed. According to Joe E. Johnson there has been 50 potential CSO discharges between July 2007-April 2008. Research shows the EPA will allow five per year.

Dissolved Oxygen (DO) problems present in the Maumee will reflect on the wildlife also! DO means simply, the content of oxygen in the water is so low that native wildlife cannot exist in it! PBC’s heavy metals from large corporations, and factories stemming all the way from the rust belt time of 1920’s -1950’s still loom in the Maumee today and the Maumee continues to be a dump site in 2008. Indiana also used to have a natural "water filtration" system because we had twenty five percent of our land mass covered with wetlands. With the removal of 85% of the wetlands within 4 generations, our natural "water filtration system" is devastating to our rivers!

How does planting trees and native grass seeds help river water quality?

Dissolved Oxygen problems can be alleviated by creating shade, thus increasing Oxygen in the water. All this will create the beautiful aesthetics of pristine waterways for Fort Wayne's future! The number one pollutant in our watershed is dirt (erosion/sedimentation). Plantings today provide a "rain-garden" type area so plants will drink up the rain water which produces enzymes, absorbs bacteria - and “eating” bacteria out of water rather than letting it just runoff into the river and helps reduce the pollutants in the water down stream all the way through Ohio to (one of the Great Lakes for those whom may not be aware) Lake Erie.

Grasses will help to settle out or suspended sediment in the water; the trees will help to hold down the soil that could be washed away because there is nothing to hold down the barren soil when the water comes rushing in when we have a rain event. By using natural Riparian seeds, projects like these will eventually will help with flooding too, eighty five percent of wetlands in Indiana no longer exist, these restoration practices will aide in replenishing wetland species and activity right here in Fort Wayne!

These practices of planting Cottonwood trees (which drinks up water like a cotton towel) also eliminates standing pools of stagnant water left over when the river water recedes - thus controlling West Nile! West Nile is spread by mosquitoes that hatch in standing, pollution ridden water.

What can you do to help clean up our rivers?

Don’t pour ANYTHING down the storm drains

Don't pour medication, grease, cigarette butts, condoms, tampons, or ANY garbage down the toilet or sink. It will end up in your drinking water! Only bodily waste matter, toilet paper, minimal amounts of cleanser please! BTW try not to flush if you only urinated, save water.

Eliminate standing water in your yards and uncontrolled run off of rain water from your house or control with strategic rain gardens.

Incorporating a compost pile and consistently recycle or reuse products reducing your footprint in the area.

Vote with your wallet! Change the market by changing your purchase habits. Here are three actions under the Libertarian ideal of free markets regulating best practices that need to be initiated by everyone:

Hold government officials to the fire for not cleaning up their mistakes. Write to city, county, state, and national elected officials, tell them you will not vote for them in November unless they do something to move forward with all of our concerns and dreams for a beautiful city.

Do the same for businesses. Tell businesses to change the way they package goods and provide services or else you will discontinue your patronage of their establishments and purchasing of products.

Support organizations that share your concerns. Joining in will help to bring forth successful restoration efforts in our watershed. Take Hoosier River Watch Training “a volunteer water quality monitoring program,” with the St. Joe River Watershed Initiative at the USDA offices. Sign up to become a Hoosier River Watch Volunteer!

The next class is on the 31st of May see F6's Google Calendar for more information. If you don't have any idea of where to begin your own campaign, start within your circle of friends and sign a petition. Have river clean up days where you get your family and friends to join the fun. Contact Save Maumee for some suggestions and a shit load of resource information they also have some awesome connections across the county. Abigail Frost, the founder of Save Maumee Grassroots Organization can be reached @ 260-417-2500 or savemaumee@yahoo.com.

There is more information to cover but I think that is enough of going green and cute bois for one post. I will post more environmental news and updates in two to three weeks.

[EDITOR'S UPDATE: Local Rain Garden Initiatives]

The strategic "green infrastructure" resolutions that were mandated for the City by part of a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency regarding the over 50 potential CSO's incidents mentioned above (6th section) were reported, reviewed, and commented on the same day as this post @ Fort Wayne Politics by Mike Sylvester and Jeff Pruitt (two posts, last one w/video). I will yield to their coverage rather than making a separate post during this weekend as originally intended. Otherwise, it would seem like I am the only one beating the drum about the City wasting money on frivolous, or in this case, poorly planned projects....

*pardon me for a moment while I pull out my soap box*

I do however just have to pointe out the obvious: If the City had not spent the 500,000 dollars to match money donated to the privately funded bike trail system for a five minute spotlight we could have funded some of the Rain Garden Initiative and still had 160,000 dollars minimum left in the Public Works fund for other projects. To boot, the City tried to hire an out of State firm when we have plenty of organizations here able to do the job, as the three cited above in this original post. Thanks goes to City Council for standing up and saying, "NO!". Now it is time to let the citizens, City Departments, and Grassroots Non For Profit Organizations locally come together and put a real plan in place! The rain gardens are a good place to start but they are not the only answer.

*steps down off soap box*

Thank you for putting up with my ranting and bitching.