You ride your bike to work, eat bio and spend your weekends tending to carrots at the communal garden. But have you considered the ecological impact of your sex life? That’s right, one more thing to worry about.
According to Waldemar Zeller and Philip Siefer, the affable, bearded founders of Berlin start-up Einhorn Condoms, every time you use a big-name condom like Durex, you contribute to the industrial-scale ravaging of the Malaysian rainforest. Thus, these lads have made it their mission to produce a more earth-friendly Gummi.
They’ve already travelled to Malaysia and sought out “fairstainable” rubber harvesters who refrain from indiscriminately slashing the rainforest to plant rubber-tree monocultures, who don’t pollute the groundwater with pesticides, and who pay their workers fairly; the next step is to convert the sustainably harvested raw materials into condoms by commandeering a section of the same Malaysian factory the big brands use.
Clearly there’s a lust for this kind of thing: within 24 hours of launching their crowdfunding campaign on Feb 3, they’d raised their starting capital of €50,000. The “unicorns” are asking for six times that amount, though, so if you’re into sex that’s safe for both you and the rainforest, think about chipping in before March 5.
Your bonus? A pack of Einhorn’s sexy condoms, once production starts (they’re aiming for late April/early May). They’ll come in chic-looking packages of seven (€15 for two) or 49 (€35) festooned with designs from Berlin-based artists like Oliver Rath, Heji Shin and Sandra Bayer.
Originally published in issue #136, March 2015
