Last week, I wrote a love letter to my bathroom. No, this isn’t a normal thing for me. I penned the missive hoping to inspire folks to lavish their lavs with amorous, eco-friendly makeovers for Saint Valentine’s Day. I realize that for many, this isn’t possible: A bathroom is a bathroom and aside from occasional yearly bubble baths and love song karaoke in the shower, it’s not a place that inspires romance.

 

For traditionalists, I’m turning my attention to a more typical room to transform into a "green light district" on Valentine’s Day: The bedroom. Before we get to the good stuff, let’s talk pesticides for a hot n' bothered minute. According to the Green Guide, it requires about 1.25 pounds of petroleum-based pesticides and fertilizers to produce a queen-sized, conventional cotton sheet. Of the top 15 pesticides used on cotton crops, seven of them are considered “probable,” “known,” “possible” or “likely” human carcinogens by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Not very sexy, eh?  

 

There are plenty of chem-free bedding choices out there for those who have the tendency to dwell on groundwater pollution and genetic modification while rolling around in the sheets. Bedding made from organic cotton, bamboo, and hemp are the most common, consumer-friendly choices. Even though intensive amounts of water and some chemical treatments are required to produce some of these conventional cotton alternatives, their overall impact on the environment is much less devastating.

 

Okay, I'll stop being a tease. Before you hit the sheets with a special friend this weekend, check out these seven sexy, sustainable bedding choices. Can't say I've test driven them all, but take my word for it...