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India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

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Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#151

Post by [deleted] »

up_and_up wrote: post #121
avar wrote: post #16

> Unfortunately, in many places, it’s not > feasible to lay down sewer pipes or build > treatment facilities. [...] But giving > people access to toilets isn’t enough. You > also have to persuade them to use the > toilets. I can't find it now, but there was a news video making the rounds a year or two ago that showed that this problem is much more fundamental than that. It showed a Indians in a tiny village who were…

> But somehow the problem persists, it's unbelievable. Before you get too high and mighty there.... Not long ago (1996) here in the USA, they were still removing all the outhouses that had been positioned directly over fresh-water streams all over Appalachia. See "Straight Piping". [1] Its easy to judge poor people in other countries, we forget how recently we were (and maybe still are) making similar mistakes. [1] -…

[deleted]

Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#153

Post by rsync »

clock_tower wrote: post #65
Cyph0n wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, this is quite baffling. The only answer I can think of is that India hasn't been prioritizing education in rural communities. Population is not a valid excuse: do people still shit where they drink in China? I'm more understanding when it comes to the lack of basic sanitation facilities, but lack of education is inexcusable in this day and age!

China used night soil as fertilizer historically; they don't anymore (when was the practice abandoned, I wonder? And is there any Chinese interest in terra preta?), but it got them into great habits. The same is true for at least Korea and Japan; I don't know as much about Southeast Asia. Only drinking hot drinks also helped China's health. Fernand Braudel, in The Structures of Everyday Life , discusses this in passi…

"(Where did they get the ice?)"

That is a fantastic question ...

Many different cities around the world have an "icehouse" street - the origin of the name being obvious. However, I know of an "icehouse" street in Hong Kong and I always wonder "when the icehouse was here, and this street was named for it, where in the world were they getting ice?"

I know you can pack ice in sawdust and straw, etc., and keep it for the summer, but Hong Kong is a very, very long journey from anywhere that freezes in the winter ... where were they bringing ice from ?

Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#154

Post by kahrkunne »

Asooka wrote: post #142

That's Roma for you. I've seen educated Roma people, but they also have examples of some of the most parasitic and unhygienic behaviour. IIRC, various cultures have tried to integrate them and get them to behave in a more civilized manner over the last 1000 years give or take, with precisely zero success.

This is getting downvoted because it's true.

(and no, before anyone pulls that card, it's not racist. It's cultural)

Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#155

Post by politiyvr »

Banthum wrote: post #82
gurkendoktor wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard plenty of anecdotes from this decade that toddlers in rural China commonly poop onto the street, and that public toilets on e.g. buses are too messy to be hygienic. It seems to be common enough: https://www.quora.com/Chinese-Etiquette-and-Behavior-Is-poop... Better than doing it in one's own drinking water, but I think what saves the Chinese is not education, but a tradition of cooking absolutely everythin…

It's far beyond "toddlers in rural China commonly poop in the street". In downtown Shanghai I got to watch a mother walk out of her business holding her child, have the child crap on the sidewalk (while being held in the mothers' arms), and then brought back inside. This was not a baby. The kid looked about 3-4 years old. This goes on in subway stations as well. The parent has the kid sit on the edge of a garbage can…

Meanwhile, over in Richmond (a suburb of Vancouver, Canada where the census shows approx 50% of residents are of Chinese origin):

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2013/08/meanwhile-in-richmond/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/the-boy-t...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/boy-peeing-in...

http://www.straight.com/news/417596/culture-clash-over-kid-p...

Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#156

Post by SophosQ »

kahrkunne wrote: post #152

How astonishing that a nation like India is just now learning to poo in the loo, yet somehow we in the west still think it's sensible to outsource our tech work to them (and then act surprised when the results are less than stellar)

Given the level of economic and educational disparity that persists in the population it's an obvious consequence that you'd have a country that can send an unmanned mission to Mars while still suffering from illiteracy.

It'd be unwise to generalise the capabilities of a country where such a large variance exists in the population's technical aptitude especially when it's of nearly a billion people.

Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#157

Post by thetruthseeker1 »

avar wrote: post #16

> Unfortunately, in many places, it’s not > feasible to lay down sewer pipes or build > treatment facilities. [...] But giving > people access to toilets isn’t enough. You > also have to persuade them to use the > toilets. I can't find it now, but there was a news video making the rounds a year or two ago that showed that this problem is much more fundamental than that. It showed a Indians in a tiny village who were…

Part of the problem is also because of lack of education. Unlike in the west, literacy rate is not as high, hence they miss out on the knowledge and awareness that can come from being able to read. But, India is making progress even on that front, so eventually I think both these improvements will complement one another nicely and things may be much different 10 years down the line.

I am originally from India(now I live in US) and my grandfather who was a doctor in India back then in the 1950s would advise people who often fell ill to eat healthy and eat apple. People would ask him what Apple was and to describe it so that they can buy it in the market. My dad who also turned out to be a doctor said he didnt meet any patients who didnt know what Apple was...so yes, things change...but they take time.

Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#158

Post by kahrkunne »

balls187 wrote: post #150
avar wrote: post #16

> Unfortunately, in many places, it’s not > feasible to lay down sewer pipes or build > treatment facilities. [...] But giving > people access to toilets isn’t enough. You > also have to persuade them to use the > toilets. I can't find it now, but there was a news video making the rounds a year or two ago that showed that this problem is much more fundamental than that. It showed a Indians in a tiny village who were…

There are a non trivial number of people who believe the earth is flat. And these aren't Indians from a rural indian village.

A few thousand loonies on the Internet believing something weird but harmless doesn't weigh up to millions of Indians pooping on the street

Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#159

Post by walrus01 »

I recall seeing a video of a property owner who has a piece of land with a long, approx 2.5 meter height wall facing a street in a suburb of Delhi. He had a significant problem with the wall becoming an unofficial "designated pissing wall" and the whole place reeked of urine. Problem was solved by first power washing the wall and then hiring a few local mural painters to paint images of various Hindu gods (Hanuman, Ganesh, etc) on the wall. No more pissing problem.

Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#160

Post by bdamm »

Asooka wrote: post #142

That's Roma for you. I've seen educated Roma people, but they also have examples of some of the most parasitic and unhygienic behaviour. IIRC, various cultures have tried to integrate them and get them to behave in a more civilized manner over the last 1000 years give or take, with precisely zero success.

Zero success? An outlandish claim requires an equivalently convincing citation. This sounds more like "I've seem Roma people doing unclean things, therefore all Roma people cannot be integrated to be clean" where in fact all that is happening is the confirmation bias at work, because what you didn't see was all the Roma people who were integrated and using toilets like everyone else.
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