Q: What’s the greenest form of birth control?
A: Are you getting in touch with your, er, animal instincts but can’t figure out how to keep your love life from mauling the planet? I could preach the environmental virtues of joining a nunnery or monastery, but, let’s face it, I’d be the first to be excommunicated.
Most condoms are made of natural latex tapped from rubber trees, which is cool, though before you toss ’em just anywhere, note that stabilizers keep them from biodegrading. (Still, it’s better to send them to landfills than into the waterways, so don’t flush).
And they’re the only option that protects you from STDs (which will inevitably require water-polluting pharmaceuticals), so keep ’em handy.
Which should you get? Well, there are a few new options on the block. Brand spankin’ new Sir Richard’s condoms are not only vegan (most condoms are coated with milk casein), but the company also donates a condom to a country in need (like Haiti) for every one purchased (available from sirrichards.com).
Also hot off the sheets, a French luxury brand, the Original Condom, offsets the carbon footprint of production (102 grams of CO2 per condom) by buying carbon forestry credits (theoriginalcondom.com available in Toronto boutiques and hotels next month).
Or stick to your personal fave (like, say, Glyde’s vegan condoms and dental dams) and buy your own sex-life offsets by the ton (I’m guessing that’s a lifetime condom offset) from a trusted Canadian offsetter like carbonzero.ca or less.ca.
Just avoid fossil-fuel-based polyurethane condoms (and sponges) unless you’re allergic to latex.
As wonderfully convenient as the pill, patch and ring are, flushing away estrogen every time we pee isn’t helping fish downstream. They never signed up for gender reassignment surgery, but 6 per cent of all American fish are now inter-sexed to some degree, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Sure, birth control is only part of the problem, combined with estrogenic chemicals like bisphenol A and agricultural emissions from farm animals, but what are your alternatives?
Taking a low-dose progestin-only pill might minimize environmental impacts, but early evidence is finding progestin has a defeminizing effect on female fish. Plus, if you mess up a little on these, you’ll end up with a hungry young carbon footprint in your life. Still low-dose pills are leaps and bounds better than the mega-doses leached from discarded rings and patches.
I’d much rather see you consider options like the IUD, which in my books is the greenest form of birth control next to abstinence. The IUD’s been experiencing a resurgence in North America. (It’s already big in Europe and Asia.) Why? Intrauterine devices happen to have a top-notch 1 per cent failure rate, are virtually waste-free and (depending on the kind) are a hormone-free form of birth control.
And once your doc inserts this tiny T-shaped thingy, you can leave it in for five to 10 years, depending on the kind. Of course, it hurts like a son of bitch going in and is more commonly recommended for women who’ve already given birth (less painful being inserted), though in 2005 the U.S. FDA reversed its policy of only approving IUDs for women who’d given birth.
There are two major types of IUDs: copper and progestin-releasing. The latter, under the brand name Mirena, releases only the tiniest amount of hormone (about 1/7 that of the birth control pill) and is a good option for women who are heavy menstrual bleeders, since it actually lightens your flow.
This type prevents fertilization by making the cervix and uterus inhospitable for the little swimmers and fertilized eggs.
If you’re not allergic to the metal, copper IUDs are great because the copper acts as a natural spermicide, though they’re not recommended for women who are heavy bleeders, since they can make your flow heavier.
Now, I hear some of you clamouring to tell me your preferred technique – say, the pullout method or the rhythm method – is product-free, but because of their high failure rates they’re way more likely to result in unplanned bambinos.
If you’re hyper-organized by nature, you should google Fertility Awareness Method, but this one involves keeping written records of your cycle, wet and dry days and even temperature readings. Clearly, lazy, impetuous types should stay away.
Got a question?
Send your green queries to ecoholic@nowtoronto.com
