Sustainable Menstrual Cycle Products

I am a spokeswoman for a project called Sustainable Cycles. We are a group of bicyclists who ride our bicycles around the country and spread the word about alternative menstruation. Last summer, I rode from San Francisco to New York City, holding women's meetings in the towns I passed through about the broader implications of conventional menstrual products. I carried my own gear over the 4,600 miles, including a show-and-tell of alternatives like sea sponges, cloth pads, and reusable menstrual cups. The goal of the project is to provide a safe space to learn about menstruation, tell stories, and ask critical questions about the products that we use so intimately.

 I fell in love with my menstrual cup when I was 20 years old. As a junior in college, I had a supportive community of friends to help me try (try, and try again) the strange contraption that, once mastered, has been one of my most prized possessions. I stopped buying monthly "supplies", and the cup paid for itself in seven months. I could go hiking, biking, swimming--all of the things I could do with a tampon, minus the dioxin exposure, vaginal dryness, and truckload of trash that we produce over our menstrual lifetime.

 

I am a spokeswoman for Sustainable Cycles because I believe that menstruating people do not have the opportunities to discuss nor critique the methods they use for their periods. I am a spokeswoman because I love riding my bicycle on grand adventures, because I am both equally an environmentalist and a feminist, and because I have had the opportunity to meet incredible women across the country who are doing ground-breaking work for women's, community, and environmental health. 

The next trip for me is LA to Boston starting in March of 2015. We are riding to the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research's National Conference beginning on June 4. If you have got a passion for bicycling, waste reduction, women's health, and/or fun, we are taking applications HERE

 

By Rachel Horn

Visit her website HERE

Companion Resources 

Podcast please DOWNLOAD HERE 
Library article (Rachel's articles) please Article #1 CLICK HERE    Article #2 CLICK HERE

Trusted resource #1 CLICK HERE
Trusted resource #2 Click HERE
Webinar please CLICK HERE