4 ms·
And what I'm saying is a outhouse /is/ a huge innovation to many places in Western Africa and India. It's largely a cultural problem like rampant littering or p
by gnarbarian 8y ago
And what I'm saying is a outhouse /is/ a huge innovation to many places in Western Africa and India. It's largely a cultural problem like rampant littering or pollution. One guy digging an outhouse and shitting in it won't make any more difference than a single person recycling. But if enough people do it they will see a huge improvement in public health and infant mortality.
- m_mueller 8y agoI'd argue that going from shitting in the woods to a well engineered and cheap toilet is a much more attractive step for most people than having them dig outhouses. It's like with the washing mashines - once electrification is there it's one of the first purchases since it's such a quality of life improvement, and this has happened for a majority of the world's population.
- specialist 8y agoI just watched a segment on this (VICE, Vox, other?). In some places, the cultural taboo is cleaning the pit. So in parts of India, with a history of castes, the pits are made impracticably large, to that it never (rarely) needs to be emptied.
- gnarbarian 8y agoThe thing is, you don't need to empty it really. You can just fill in the rest with dirt and dig a new pit 10 meters away.
- RichardCA 8y agoWas it this one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V35Vw29tay0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V35Vw29tay0
- specialist 8y agoWell spotted.