For all the admirable efforts to solve the world’s problems—beating malaria, improving education access, closing the digital divide—one simple need tends to fall by the wayside: We humans have to poop, and some 2.5 billion of us don’t have the proper facilities to do so. Think about what that means for a second: Beyond the commodes themselves, roughly a third of the planet’s population lacks sanitation, leaving communities susceptible to disease and filth. As Jack Sim, the founder of the World Toilet Organization, told me a couple years ago, a major part of the problem is that sanitation isn’t a particularly glamorous cause, which has limited its exposure and support. It’s telling that more people globally have cell phones than have proper toilets.”Why is a cell phone something someone will pay for when they won’t pay for it in their house?” Karl Linden, a University of Colorado, Boulder environmental engineering professor, told me. “We need to think of sanitation as a business opportunity, and turn the toilet into a status symbol.”
Source: This Solar-Powered Toilet Torches Poop for Public Health – Motherboard
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