A match-making service has launched to foster a new generation of conscious couples in Asia Pacific.
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Called ConsciousCupid, the dating service taps into the growing market for environmentally and socially aware singles looking for suitably woke partners.
The Covid-19 pandemic has made life hard for locked-down lonelies looking for love. ConsciousCupid provides a simple platform for like-minded earth-lovers to hook up as movement restrictions loosen around the region.
The launch comes off the back of new research that finds that the coronavirus outbreak has prompted more of the region’s love-seekers to choose a partner based on their sustainability credentials.
Published on Thursday (1 April), the study found that 72 per cent of single Asians want to find a partner who is as ecologically sensitive as they are.
The study also found that three in four women in the region find men more attractive if they ride a electric scooter than if they drive a Ferrari, and two in three Asian men prefer women who’d rather own a handbag made out of recycled carpets than by Louis Vuitton.
Matching the eco-elite
ConsciousCupid matches singles based on their sustainability merits. The greener the candidate, the greener the partner they’ll be paired with.
Matches are made based on responses to questions about lifestyle choices. The questions are designed to distinguish between sustainability novices and the eco-advanced, and pair up singles accordingly.
CupidConscious conundrums
Do you switch off the lights for Earth Hour, but enlighten your home with 50 candles made from paraffin and animal fat?
Do you use palm oil-free soap, but drink enough soy milk to deforest half of the Amazon?
Do you shop at the wet market with reusables, but clog incinerators with disposable plastic from all your online deliveries?
Do you only use energy-efficient lightbulbs for an apartment with seven chandeliers?
Do you only buy conflict-free diamonds for jewelry for your five girlfriends?
Do you cycle to work, but jet to Bali for the weekend?
Source: ConsciousCupid
For instance, have you recently removed meat from your diet, but eat enough avocado toast to cause a drought in Mexico?
Do you refuse single-use plastic straws, but generate the emissions of a juggernaut in stainless steel reuseable cups you keep losing?
Do you only shop big at sustainable-living festivals, but spend more on eco-junk you don’t need than the indigenous villagers who made it, earn in a year?
A trial of ConsciousCupid has delivered promising results among early adopters.
“For years, I’ve been looking for someone to make low-carbon babies with, but I haven’t been able to find anyone who’s as in balance with nature as I am,” said Miso Ee Koh, a naturopathic healing teacher from Malaysia.
“Thanks to ConsciousCupid, I have finally found someone who walks my talk. He jogs to work in sandals made from recycled tires, doesn’t wash to save water, and only wears vegan condoms,” said Ms Koh.
The new dating service will kick off with the ConsciousCupid ‘Eco-Elite’ quiz, a search for Asia’s most conscious couple. Winners stand to win an evening at a cruelty-free, organic vegan restaurant of their choice.
