THE FLUSH TOILET: THE GREATEST INVENTION IN HUMAN HISTORY

I just concluded a series of exchanges (if they can be called that) with some people in the Philippines.  Massive flooding has displaced thousands.  They’re putting victims up in schools and other places. . .that do not have near enough toilets to provide sanitation for thousands of people. . .for weeks. . .months. . .even years.  

I tried to tell them there’s not such thing as a DISASTER RELIEF INDUSTRY.  Disaster relief is always provided ad hoc.  Phone calls are made to “see what's available.”  In Haiti. . .somebody sent a container of rubber boots.  They had a quake not a flood.  Another sent a container of significantly expired packaged food.  “Hey. . .I got a tax deduction coming. . .right?”  

Ever been excited at seeing one of these?

They decided to purchase porta-potties in China.  They had no idea they were suddenly going to be in the “poop-handling” business.  Or that it takes as much as 200 gallons of water to clean a porta-potty.  That you need trucks and a place to clean the porta-potties out.  Few are really cleaned.  Most are full of bacteria from the day they’re set in their nice tidy rows.  These types of toilets. . .the cabana style. . .were designed for short-term events.  People use them with great care.  At a music concert.  A construction site.  Whatever.  But when you have the scope of flooding experienced in the Philippines. . .you must think LONG-TERM relief.

THE WILDERNESS TOILET KIT IS THE LONG-TERM SANITATION SOLUTION FOR DISASTER VICTIMS

As you know. . .those of you who read this blog. . .I don’t shy away from talking about poop and pee.  Why?  Because although it’s an embarrassment in our existence. . .we all must poop and pee. . .or die.  We must get rid of the wastes in our body.  There is no choice.  So. . .everyone poops and pees and it creates a mess everywhere on the planet.  It also produces A NUMBER OF HAZARDS TO OUR HEALTH.  In many hospitals. . .poop is considered a “biohazardous material” and is carried (when necessary to carry) in red bags clearly marked “Biohazardous material.”

For centuries. . .before the flush toilet. . .now voted by experts as the “Greatest invention in human history”. . .people used some sort of outhouse.  They dug a hole and put a small covered shack above it. . .usually with one or more holes cut in a piece of wood.  Winter. . .didn’t matter.  You went to the outhouse to poop and pee.  Now. . .in many parts of the world we have the flush toilet.  And with it. . . something amazing has occurred. . .people stopped dying of diseases encased in human poop.  Cholera and typhus and other diseases run rampant around latrines and other places where the public comes in contact with the Other’s poop.

In Haiti. . .as cholera now moves south. . .they keep finding poop under the fingernails of children.  Many of whom have already contracted the disease.  You die of cholera by losing body fluids.  In the makeshift facilities where doctors are trying to save people dying of cholera. . .they cut a hole in the cot. . .so the fluids can drain out to a pan beneath it.  The odors are beyond comprehension.  And still authorities insist on repeating this process over and over and over.  

My WILDERNESS TOILET KIT rids the authorities of all such problems.  Simply by distributing a toilet kit to every 4th person (obviously a family of 6 or 7 or 9 can get by with a single toilet. . .but would need more toilet supplies to carry them over several days or weeks). . .a dignified form of sanitation for thousands of people can be provided in a matter of hours.  And the authorities do not enter into the “poop handling business.”  That matter is turned over to the user.  A child of 6 or 7 can be easily taught to take responsibility for their own body wastes.  

After all. . .we are talking about DISASTER AID. . .not camping out.  Although I told the people in the Philippines that when you put people in a school. . .it’s “like” camping out.  They need to erect privacy tents. . .which can be made with scraps of wood and rolls of plastic materials.  In other words. . .it doesn’t cost much to produce a dignified space for disaster victims. . .if you have the right plan. . .and the right supplies.  The WILDERNESS TOILET KIT is the right choice for long-term disaster sanitation relief.

HOW THE VICTIM’S POOP IS DEALT WITH IS CRITICAL TO LIFE ITSELF

The politics of dealing with the human necessity to poop and pee is one of man’s great disgraces.  I wondered why politicians do nothing while people die by the thousands from poor sanitation in their countries.  Here’s what I’ve found (I’m also grateful to Rose George and her book The Big Necessity [currently out in paperback]): 

It begins with the politicians themselves.  The very subject of human poop makes many politicians ill.  It makes ALL of them uncomfortable.  Keep in mind. . .all politicians come from some tradition.  And in every tradition in the world there’s a taboo about human poop.  

One journalist asking questions of a group of Filipino politicians said that several of them turned away. . .became visibly agitated and waved their hands to the reporter to stop. . .when he turned the subject to the dire sanitation conditions of most Filipinos.  He said at least four of them left the room with a hand over their mouth as if trying not to throw up.  

These are grown men and women.  There were no pictures shown of the squalor of the villages.  He simply asked them a few questions.  I’m convinced these reactions are traceable to the early childhood of people throughout the world (so is Rose George who has studied this historical childish response).  We can say that numberless millions of people suffer some sort of lifelong remembrance of the trauma associated with pooping when they were children.  They became disgusted with poop when they pooped in their diapers or on the ground.  They were repulsed by its odor.  But they also pretend to be leaders.  During disaster events. . .leaders need to be able to set aside their phobias for the benefit of the people who have become victims.  Sadly. . .few can do this.  They instead simply ignore what is going on. . .and resort to the oldest methods known to man.  Dig a hole.  Put over it a plank with some holes cut into it.  Spend a fortune either burying the dead. . .or treating the sicknesses that come from such archaic behavior.

Partial WILDERNESS TOILET KIT

In place of a flush toilet. . .usually impossible to provide thousands of victims of a disaster event. . .we have proved that the WILDERNESS TOILET KIT is THE long-term sanitation solution.  

Our hearts go out to the victims of the flooding in the Philippines.