Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Pooping in water increases by many times the volume of hazardous substance that must be treated.
It also worries me that our critical sanitation is dependent on fragile modern systems. When the power goes off for a while, hygiene is often the second emergency (right after healthcare). It seems to me we should have backups in place, which rely only on local knowledge and locally available materials.
What happens when it becomes too costly, unfeasible or, due to sudden disruptions to our energy supplies, impossible, to run our mains sewage system?
After a string of posts on eco/modernism, it’s time for something earthier.
Wanting to demonstrate that “cities can be less impactful on the planet,” natural builder Lydia Doleman bought and remodeled a Portland house to demonstrate her values.
It’s not difficult to get my dad talking about the past and the first story he remembered about times before flush toilets was a tale about his brother and his friend who snuck round the back of the earth closets in their Lake District village. Via the back entrance they took delight in brandishing stinging nettles at the backside of some local character named Mad Jack! The point is that earth closets only go back a generation. A useful question might be what was wrong with them that we gave it all up for water based sewerage systems?
