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| Subject: Don't laugh, global warming is affecting the world's oldest profession! | |
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Author: jw |
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Date Posted: 19:16:57 03/07/07 Wed In reply to: Oropan 's message, ""ensuring S&M paddles are made from sustainably harvested timber,"" on 15:52:09 03/06/07 Tue Sex, ski resorts and global warming Who doesn't love a story that mixes together sex, skiing and global warming? So when the Environmental Economics blog linked to a blurb in the U.K.'s trashy Metro newspaper reporting that an escort agency manager in Sofia, Bulgaria, was complaining that rising temperatures were hurting her business, further investigation was required. According to the Metro, a lack of snow at Bulgarian ski resorts has left patrons spinning their wheels. Petra Nestorova is quoted as declaring that this sad state of affairs is encouraging top-quality hookers to hightail it to the resorts and provide some alternative entertainment. The Metro's account is unbylined and reads suspiciously like an urban fairy tale. But it doesn't have to be true to be useful. News reports indicate that Bulgarian ski resorts did report low levels of snowfall in January and February. Whether this is just a random fluctuation or can be directly linked to rising temperatures attributable to global warming is, as we like to say in every other post at How the World Works, difficult to prove, but there certainly has been no shortage of reports predicting problems for Europe's ski industry in upcoming decades if temperatures continue to rise. This could pose particular difficulties for Bulgaria, where the biggest ski resorts, such as Bansko, tend to be fairly low in altitude. Bansko is an interesting case, as it has been carved out of a national park, and is the subject of ongoing criticism from environmentalists who make a pretty good case that just about every environmental law or regulation on the Bulgarian or European Union books has been willfully broken by developers expanding the ski resort. Biodiversity be damned -- with the threat of global warming looming, the time is now for those who want to keep cashing in on Bulgaria's European niche as a cheap ski vacation destination where the government turns a tourist-friendly blind eye to rampant prostitution. I will conjecture that back in 1989, most of those of us who watched, mouths hanging open, as the totalitarian Communist governments of the Eastern Bloc melted away like so much primo powder under a hot noonday sun, did not foresee that Bulgaria would soon become a hotbed of packaged ski tours and cheap hookers. We probably should have, but were too busy happily waving a fond goodbye to Brezhnevian-clone dictators like Bulgaria's Todor Zhivkov. Eighteen years later, Bulgaria is the newest and poorest member of the European Union (it joined on Jan. 1, 2007). And after a few economic bumps along the way, it's got everything a good free market society could want, including 5 percent annual GDP growth, sex trafficking and out-of-control commercial ski resort development in national parks. And if the snow doesn't fall, heck, they'll make their own, and still be cheaper than the Swiss or Austrian Alps. >Love-making gets green light from adult stores >Misty Harris, CanWest News Service >Published: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 > > >You've heard of green cars, green tourism and green >weddings. Now Canadians should ready themselves for >green sex. > >For those who like to make love to the soundtrack of >the global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth, >Greenpeace has released a list of strategies for >"getting it on for the good of the planet," suggesting >"you can be a bomb in bed without nuking the planet." >TreeHugger, an online magazine edited by Ontario's >Michael Graham Richard, has just published a guide on >"how to green your sex life." The famed adult store >Good Vibrations announced last week they would no >longer sell sex toys containing phthalates, >controversial chemical plasticizers believed by some >to be hazardous to humans and the environment alike. > >And throughout Canada and the U.S., people who want to >pleasure the planet can now buy everything from bamboo >bed sheets to organic lubricant and "eco-undies." > >"Green living is getting sexy," says Jacob Gordon, >author of TreeHugger.com's recent green guide for the >bedroom. > >"Even a year ago, people wouldn't have been nearly as >receptive to this kind of thing. ... But, as the >importance of living green gains traction in our >culture, people are willing to take things like that a >lot more seriously." > >Most environmentalists will agree the mainstream >success of the Al Gore vehicle An Inconvenient Truth >has helped give climate change the pop-culture sheen >it's currently enjoying. Indeed, global warming is a >cause to which everyone from Diesel apparel to Vanity >Fair magazine and Starbucks are pinning their >marketing efforts. > >And if shopping to save the planet is trendy, having >sex to clear your conscience is at the cutting edge. > >"It feels like people are just waking up to the fact >the planet is suffering under our uses of it," says >Rebecca Denk, business manager for the adult toy store >Babeland. The U.S. company, which sells to Canadians >via Babeland.com, just introduced an "Eco-Sexy Kit" >featuring a phthalate-free vibrator, soy massage >candle, a natural lubricant with no animal-testing or >derivatives, and condoms. > >"We have to look at every piece of our lives, >including our sexuality, and ask: How is this healthy >for me, and how is this healthy for the planet?" says >Denk. "Hopefully, we're all becoming better global >citizens." > >Other ways of "greenwashing" the bedroom, as outlined >by TreeHugger and Greenpeace, include turning out the >lights, not buying PVC or vinyl accoutrements, >ensuring S&M paddles are made from sustainably >harvested timber, using organic massage oils, >showering together, using bamboo bed sheets (they come >from a rapidly renewable resource and are said to be >"super sexy"), and wearing lingerie made with >renewable fibres such as hemp (Enamore), bamboo >(Butta) and other organic goodness (GreenKnickers, >Buenostyle, Peau Ethique). > >Gordon notes there's even an eco-friendly adult >website dedicated to naked vegetarians, appropriately >called Veg Porn. > >Camille Labchuk, speaking on behalf of the Green Party >of Canada, gives the movement two green thumbs-up. > >"The general concern for trying to live lightly on our >planet has transferred into all areas of people's >lives," says Labchuk, the Green party's press >secretary. "So, even though what goes on in our >bedrooms as a nation is somewhat hidden, we know >that's somewhere people want to green-up." [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |