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Talk at Research Club this Sunday
Check out the video of Mat’s talk on why bathrooms are gross. Warning, it’s gross. We’re talking at noon on Sunday for our friends at Research Club. It’ll be their 19th Brunch and the first oen featuring composting toilets
Eco-Toilet Summit II: Human Waste and Why it Matters
Check out the full hand out from the Summit. It’s full of facts, figures and great resources on eco-toilets. I had the good fortune of being able to attend the 2nd Eco-Toilet Summit in Falmouth, Massachusetts on July 16th. The event was a follow up to the 1st EcoToilet Summit held on March 19th (Read [...]
Can Iceland Crowdsource their Constitution?
check out Good’s article on Iceland’s process for drafting a new constitution.
Understanding the low demand for sanitation for those with little money
Mat and I had a chance to hear Isabel Guenther speak on May 24th on the dynamics of sanitation and water investments as part of the Cewas program in Switzerland. Guenther is Professor of Development Economics at the Center for Development and Cooperation (NADEL) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH). Guenther [...]
The Dream of the 60′s is Alive in Wolhusen
As part of the Cewas start up program Mathew and I had a chance on May 19th to visit Tropenhaus, a greenhouse for tropical plants located in the small town of Wolhusen, CH. The idea for the tropical house began with Johannes Heeb 11 years ago. The motivation was to re-use the waste heat from [...]
Talkin’ Shit in Switzerland
The Cloacina Project is in Switzerland till July 9th to participate in the first ever Cewas Start Up Programme in Willisau, Switzerland. The start up program brings together 12 young professionals from around the world for a year with several sessions in Switzerland, on session in India and yearlong mentorship from some of the world’s [...]
The 90s: US starts land applying sludge, Swizterland stops
In the 1990s, Switzerland banned the re-use of sludge for any agricultural purposes because of the high heavy metal and other persistent pollutants. Austria, and Sweden also banned such re-use. The main concern was that since waste water systems combine industrial and residential waste, the treated material could be harmful to the longterm health of [...]
Ecological Sanitation in Haiti: Talk at Reed College Today
Today Sasha Kramer (99′) will be talking at her alma mater about her work with SOIL to provide dry toilets in Haiti. Her talk is at 4:45 p.m., Wednesday, April 27, Biology 19. SOIL hired Joe Jenkins to come down to Haiti and consult on sanitation techniques down there. Here’s a great video of his [...]
Eight Rungs on a Ladder of Citizen Participation
This is a chart from page 42 of Colin Ward’s book “Streetwork: the Exploding School” first published in 1973. the original reference is to Sherry Arnstein’s “A Ladder of Citizen Participation in the USA”, Journal of the American Institute of Planners, July 1969. Streetwork is a great book on environmental education. Nils Norman runs a [...]