With Valentine's Day this weekend, it's fitting that a recent Chicago Tribune story about enterprising bike entrepreneur Anthony Mikrut, who delivers sex toys by bicycle to 27 Chicago zip codes, was a good reminder that the sex industry could still use quite a lot of greening.
More and more small businesses, such as The French Letter Condom Company, are figuring out there's a thriving market for Fair Trade, organic, and greener sex aids as people look at personal care and realize it's got a lot of chemical components they might not want so close to their bodies. Babeland had cornered the market for green items via the 'Net (check out Eco-Sexy kit), but others such as Earth Erotics and Love Me Naturally are getting in on the game.
What is even more interesting about Mikrut's business idea, however, is the realization that all industries (and we, the consumers) could massively benefit by cities expanding their bicycle infrastructure, culture, and delivery services.
Think about it. What's the number one bummer about 'Net shopping? The time between typing in your Visa number and waiting for purchases to turn up in the mailbox. With Mikrut's Kinky Llama, next day delivery of sex aids is free, while bike-based 1-hour delivery is only $5. Sex aids delivered for the price of an organic beer...not bad.
Bike delivery and bike-businesses are becoming a lot more common in forward-thinking bike meccas such as Portland, Oregon, where you can get eco-friendly cleaning or your evening soup meal delivered by bike. Fifty (!) new bike-related businesses have sprung up there in the last two years. In Boulder, Tuscan olive oil can be delivered by bike. In Ventura, California, it is fine cuisine that can come by bike.
UPS even added bicycle delivery in some Oregon cities during the holidays.
In Minneapolis, Peace Coffee has offered bicycle delivery for more than six months, and found that they've saved tons of CO2 delivering over 30,000 pounds of FairTrade coffee.
As Mikrut's Kinky Llama illustrates, there are plenty of ways to expand local economies and make people happy by building up a sexy, sustainable bicycle economy.
More from TreeHugger and Planet Green on green sex
::TreeHugger TV: How to Buy a Green Sex Toy
::How Far Would You Go, Literally, For Sex
::Sustainable Sex Toys Just in Time for Valentine's Day
::How to Go Green: Sex
::Eco Kink: Japan's Green Sex Clubs
::Not Vegan? No Sex