Archive for World Toilet Day
World Toilet Day: Better Toilets and Better Toilet Flushes
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday the Professor was thrilled to tune in to NPR’s Science Friday to hear toilet experts discuss a favorite issue: building a better toilet. Participants included Jim McHale, vice president of engineering at American Standard; author Rose George; Frank Rijsberman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and Daniel Yeh, engineering professor and toilet inventor.
The topic of the day was World Toilet Day, an event designed to raise awareness about the 2.6 billion people on earth – that’s 1/3 of the world population – who do not have access to proper sanitation. Lack of access to toilets lead to diarrhea, disease, and death, and represents a serious problem in the developing world.
This is why engineers are working on “reinventing the toilet” to create a commode that does not require access to a sewer system or clean drinking water for flushing. The Gates Foundation has also created a special program offering grants to engineers to create new toilet prototypes. Dr. Yeh is currently working on a model that uses anaerobic bacteria to digest waste, for example.
The Professor also appreciated the discussion
on the challenges faced by toilet designers in the U.S. McHale explained that the main concern at American Standard was to conserve water without sacrificing performance, and discussed the company’s participation in the EPA’s WaterSense program, which promotes water efficient products and encourages water-saving behaviors. The Professor particularly enjoyed McHale’s description of the H2Option siphonic dual flush toilet, an “engineering miracle” that uses smart science on the inside and an EverClean glaze on the outside to ensure that a wasteful “double flush” is never necessary to clean the bowl.
If you missed the original broadcast, you can listen in on the Science Friday podcast page.
Want to do more to support the fight for better sanitation around the world? Donate to the World Toilet Organization now!
World Toilet Day Broadcast on NPR
Posted by: | CommentsNovember 19th is World Toilet Day, which is naturally 
one of the Professor’s favorite holidays. Today NPR is helping to raise awareness about the lack of access to sanitation around the world by devoting a portion of this week’s Science Friday show to World Toilet Day. Guests will include Jim McHale, vice president of engineering at American Standard as well as several experts on global sanitation issues and civil engineering.
Catch the entire Science Friday episode from 2-4 pm. The World Toilet Day feature will start at 3 o’clock.
Follow the link above to find out what stations in your area will be broadcasting the show, or to listen online. In the meantime, check out the great toilet videos that are already posted on the website. And check back soon for the Professor’s recap on the show.
‘Big Squat’ Helps Raise Awareness About Global Sanitation Issues
Posted by: | CommentsNovember 19th was World Toilet Day, an international homage to modern sanitation.
During his globetrotting commemoration of this sacred day, Professor Toilet was
pleased to see the initiative taken by one protégé, who organized “The Big Squat” in New York City.
Held in conjunction with World Toilet Day, the social fundraiser helped raise awareness for the four in 10 humans that live without adequate sanitation, and was sponsored by The People’s Own Organic Power Project (The POOP Project).
One attendee of New York’s Big Squat celebration of World Toilet Day helps The People's Own Organic Power Project advocate for the toilet-less in developing countries.
According to Shawn Shafner, founder and executive director of The POOP Project, the event was part of an ongoing campaign to “create constructive, educational poop-positive environments that allow people to move past this socially taboo topic in order to confront the global lack of access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene.”
Shafner founded the arts and education organization in response to the lack of public awareness about crucial sanitary issues. Sadly, he notes, children are the most susceptible to illnesses caused by poor sanitation, resulting in 4,000 preventable deaths every day. Yes, each day, inadequate hygiene kills in epidemic proportions.
“World Toilet Day is a way of honoring the modern plumbing system that most of us take for granted,” says Shafner. “But we’re also aware that this system presents a looming disaster this decade as fresh water becomes more scarce, even in major U.S. cities.”
Blogger Deanna Neil posted a good question and answer dialog with Shafner, including his assertion that America’s sewage system is old and overburdened and, moreover, using “fresh water to flush our poop is simply not sustainable.” He also offers a number of ways to learn about water and sanitation issues and advocate for change. Kudos to the “Puru” of POOP.
Celebrating World Toilet Day – The Big Squat
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You may have thought the Professor was kidding about doing the Big Squat in honor of World Toilet day.
You would have been wrong.
One of our agency partners, Zeta Interactive, got into the mood big time:
The Big Squat from Zeta
While there’s nothing better than a bunch of creatives with a good toilet story, the Big Squat had a serious purpose: to help raise awareness for the 2.5 billion people who don’t have access to sanitation. Organized by the World Toilet Organization (the other WTO), donations to the cause are accepted here.
World Toilet Day – Health and Sanitation Also Means Thanking a Plumber
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It’s World Toilet Day. A perfect day to hug your plumber.
The premise of World Toilet Day is to remind us all of the serious sanitation problems facing much of the world. Problems that affluent countries rarely think about. Until you study World History and learn about the Plague for the first time.
The first rate sanitary systems we enjoy in North America are indeed due to our advanced product technology, but also to the plumbers who protect the health of our nation every day.
So in honor of World Toilet Day, the Professor urges you to do three things:
1. Make a donation to your favorite clean water charity.
2. Go ahead and do the Big Squat.
3. Hug your plumber. And tell him or her “thanks.”
The iconic 1930s American Standard ad
