Shit Happens…
Editor’s note: OK, we’re usually not so potty-mouthed, but, as you’ll see, it’s perfectly (and literally) appropriate this time around. We’re pleased to have Simran Sethi and Sarah Smarsh join us as guest contributors, and share with you their series on the surprising journeys of everyday things. They will be posting previews on Green Options before launching the posts on Huffington Post. Here’s a sneak peek at bathroom fun.
What you may not realize, cherie, is that whatever you flush down comes back around. Our waste fertilizes our fields and is pumped back into the waterways that are our major sources of drinking water. Let’s take the journey from toilet to tap, shall we? Oui oui. (We’re affecting French here for a touch of sophistication in a post centering on fecal matter.)
Americans use about 70 gallons of water indoors, every day. About three-quarters of that is used in the toilette—shower, bath, sink, crapper—and over one-quarter is used whisking away our waste. You can cut this water usage by making sure your toilet isn’t leaking, using a composting or low-flow toilet or even displacing the water in the tank with a brick or container filled with sand . Your toilet is not a trashcan, so save cigarette butts, tissues and used condoms for the basket, not the bowl.
We don’t want to bum you out, but cutting water usage means a lot in an era when more than a billion people lack access to safe drinking water. According to Claudia McMurray, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, “On any given day, approximately 50% of the world’s hospital beds are filled with patients suffering from water and sanitation related diseases. Each year 1.8 million children in developing countries die from diarrheal disease - the second leading cause of death after pneumonia.”
When aiming for more equitable water usage, hippie wisdom comes in handy: If it’s brown flush it down; if it’s yellow, let it mellow. S’il vous plait. (Our hippie is French.)
The crapper journals continue on Huffington Post.
Thanks to the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Lacey Johnston for research assistance.
Photo credit: gemsling at Flickr under a Creative Commons license
Brenna, my bathroom in Paris was so small that I had to sit crooked on the potty to avoid my knees hitting the wall (I’m 5′3″ in shoes). This seemed to me a symbol of the French mindset about bath time– get in and get out, and don’t waste precious space on a bathroom that could be used for wine storage.
Bethb, I also grew up on a farm, and if we got too crazy with our flushing habits, the sewage ditch would back up, an unpleasant punishment that always kept us in check!
Thanks, all, for reading.
I think this article has great intentions, but I believe there is much more on a much deeper level. It would require a whole article dedicated to it, but I’ll just try and sum it up.
I will start with this: While living in Nashville, TN I was mailed a required pamphlet from the water company. I wish I kept it because it was pretty sickening to think about. There was listed all additives to our tap water- human feces being one of the higher percentiles on the list. The only reason for the other additives is to neutralize the feces. SHIT PEOPLE, WE ARE DRINKING OUR OWN POISONOUS SHIT. But I digress, because the only reason it is poisonous is because of what we eat.
Our feces is a HUGE source of compostable material which can be fed into our gardens to create our foods. Screw “energy efficient cars” and the whole lot- nature is THE most efficient engine out there and we will never beat it, only destroy it. We can semi-create FOOD (the cycles of nature does it all) from our WASTES! HOW AWESOME IS THAT!?!?!
Piss is a GREAT giver of nitrogen. We should all be pissing on our gardens.
We are flushing away VALUABLE material, including the water itself (minus the additives)!
The only problem with this is what we as a society eat. ‘Garbage in Garbage out’. If you can’t pronounce one item listed under ‘Ingredients:’ don’t eat it. Know what goes into your foods and you will know what goes into your plants (if you shit on them). If you don’t know what is going in your stomach, how do you know you are fulfilling, not suppressing, you bodies nutritional hunger? We cannot act on hunger alone and eat what money hungry, penny-pinching corporations feed us. We should become aware of our bodies. Do you think the CEO’s, COO’s, and investors of the companies, from whom we consume, eat what they produce/manufacture? Hell no they don’t, and why should you?
Don’t drink all that soda can, high fructose corn syrup infused, chocolate coated, preservative added, i-can’t-pronounce-it, who-knows-whats-in-this drinks. All you need is water.
You are all conscious human beings… why, oh why, are you a slave to your brains? Constantly consuming what pleases it.. and working harder and harder to try and please what is an endless boundary.
If you agree with ANY of the points I have made, I BEG BEG BEG of you to read “One Straw Revolution” by Masanobu Fukuoka. It’s a free download and will free you from confusion. Here is a link to the book:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3263005/The-One-Straw-Revolution-READ-THIS
Print it off and spread the love/logic.
“If we throw mother nature out the window, she comes back in the door with a pitchfork.” -Masanobu Fukuoka
Conserving water in north america won’t impact anyone who doesn’t have access to fresh water…what a stupid insinuation.
Peter and Sam have it right.
I can practice “equitable water usage” until the day I die, but it won’t do a gosh darn thing for anyone who actually needs the water. Either I use it or it will evaporate into the atmosphere.
Leaky faucets and toilets, sure - it makes good general sense to fix them. But leave the *conservation* of water to those in areas with a shortage. Otherwise, I’m only creating a greater load on my local reservoir’s dam, and think about all those people downstream who could get washed away! Oh the humanity!! (eyeroll)
My friend in New Mexico has a composting toilet and loves it. Her point is that it is a huge waste to be using potable water to deal with our poop. I wonder how realistic it would be for homes to use composting toilets in the city? Is this the kind of thing that city code could realistically allow?
Sarah,
My pal Lauren did some in-my-backyard sleuthing for me. Jim McDaniel at the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department says that people can have composting toilets within city limits if it doesn’t create a nuisance (i.e. no complaints from neighbors) and there has to be at least one flushable toilet in the home.
Hope this helps!
Living on a septic system, you learn to save water and reduce your chemical output pretty darn quick!
I think there is a really cultural action stopping us here. I live in a house with 10 people (only share the bathroom with 1, thankfully) but not sure whether I’d like the toilet to smell like pee.. ?