Green Living means 'Don't shit where you eat'

by mtippett | July 16, 2008 at 12:56 pm | 260 views | 3 comments

Great Lakes Fresh Water Supply In Danger

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In a context totally unrelated to sewage a boss of mine once advised me early in my career not to 'shit where I eat'. This was wise business advice but it's also true in a literal sense. The question of flushing and what happens when you do so is largely - and shockingly - unexplored by researchers.

One of the things that has struck me a lot throughout the past five years that I have studied water policy is the absolute disconnect that exists between our understanding of the different elements of the hydrological cycle and their interconnectedness. The social sciences literature has examined in great detail issues of water scarcity, but water quality and wastewater treatment are, for the most part, absent from the discussion.

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moonwolf

at 15:46 on July 16th, 2008

good stuff:

Toilet oceans, rivers and lakes and garbage dump landscapes is the way we have been doing it. Insanity is; 'Out of sight. Out of mind.'

eastvanray

at 02:51 on July 17th, 2008

BS. The oceans are the best places to dispose of human waste (open ocean that is). Fish shit there don't they? And they WAY out number us in the amount of waste they deposit there. Read the science. The ocean is the largest waste treatment facility on the planet (and it works). Do you think that we should paper train the fish?

jayr_patron

at 03:07 on July 17th, 2008

I think aquatic waste is constantly kept at equilibrium because of the corresponding balance in the ecology of the seas. Add human waste to the oceans and I guess that's too much already. IMHO