Inside Vanguard's World's Toilet Crisis: Adam Yamaguchi Reflects

"The World's Toilet Crisis" was an opportunity to really address the horrible old Victorian idea of shitting in perfectly good H2O via a toilet. You guys fell short.

The world needs better options than our "first world" idea of the traditional toilet! Remember, the "first world" started the same as some of the places you showed. London was the same cess-pool you showcase in India back in the 19th century! I suggest looking up "The Humanure Handbook" by Joseph Jenkins or "The Toilet Papers" by Sim Van der Ryn. Jenkins book may not be practical for everyone, but even then, why were composting toilets not even mentioned in your segment? A traditional composting (more accurately a "dehydrating") toilet loses up to 90% of it's original mass due to the dehydration, decomposition and anaerobic respiration by naturally present bacterias and microbes.

Why is it that water seems to be inextricably linked with how we deal with our excreta? The only part of your segment that really demonstrated a solution was the fertilizer bit. Then only to have Adam make some stab about using it to grow food! That is what I'm doing in my own back yard, really! Let's not continue to be so close minded. I know our noses and mouths point the opposite direction from our assholes...but we'll never be able to sever our quite natural and daily connection with our colon!
These are the ideas we need to share with L.A., let alone Indonesia or India! Imagine if we all drank our precious water instead of shitting in it, eh?

Thanks, Aaron in New Hampshire
froginsa@gmail.com

This 's good idea topic .
"Shit" is a basic function of human-being as eating .
" What 's come in , it has to come out !"
I wonder that we have a lot of Eating TV channels , websites but why didn't have Shit-channel ?

I have SO much respect for you, to choose such a disgusting assignment, and go through with it, amazing! My husband is a Septic Truck driver. Thanks for the educational documentary!

Shit happened !
Don't blame your government , blame yourself , people !

Brilliant piece on India, Should be shown on India's T.V. Not that the politicians would worry, India's politicians don't give a shit! The Commonwealth games are coming up, and their answer to the environmental problems within the City is simple, just hide it from the international community. They are actually going to temporarily screen off the worst aspects of the City with bamboo fencing! A case of out of sight, out of mind ? Then after the games, when the media camera's are gone, they can return to normal. Are they nuts! Who do they think they are fooling? The river that Adam almost threw up in was recently tested, and found to be one hundred times more polluted than is legally permitted under Indian law. Good job he didn't fall in! They have the money, and there are solutions, they simply don't care to address the problem.

this link is even better for anyone interested in appropriate tecnology for the rural villages and in particular about water and sanitation
http://csvtech.org/index.html
Adam... have a look and consider a visit...

I watched this documentary series for the first time last night. How powerful, telling and sad! The one image that broke my heart the most was that of the little tiny toddler girl sleeping, covered in flies all over her little face! Her only place to lay her head in the Indian slums was next to a sewage drain! We are so Blessed and lucky not to have to raise our babies in these conditions. What can be done?!!

Adam!
How could you do that assignment?
It must have been terrible, BUT, thank you for the courage to explain the problem and the potential for improvement. Every other time I have heard of this crisis, it was dismissed in a joke! You show it in a serious light, which opens the door for potentially improving the sad condition.
Thank you

I feel bad that they need to poo outside in front of people...

When I read the title I thought this was another article about Marines in Afghanistan.

Amazing. Great Great Great Great Journalism. It almost made me throw up watching Adam puke...

so on point. habituation to these conditions is partially why there is no change in these areas.

Well done Adam. Won't repeat what I said on the video's comments page, but this is really worthwhile and any help to broaden the work we do is more than welcome. Thank you. David

Well now that I'm getting into this topic of human defication, I'm reminded of a boat trip I took many, many years ago. I think it was in South or Southeast Asia. I was on a small boat and I needed to go to the toilet but there wasn't a toilet. There was just a small room where you had to find a place to stand and do your business. Needless-to-say, the room was full of shit. I felt at anytime if the boat rolled we'd all be covered in the stuff. For me this was a one time experience but for people who used the boat as a commuting activity it was something they experienced whenever they traveled. I don't think that situation exists today but you never know. I'm not planning on going a search for that boat.

Your show is always set to record. A must see weekly show. You guys do a great job on all your stories. very worth television. Thank You for your quality work.

Great piece of work, Adam. You exposed an often overlooked topic, barely mentioned by the traditional news media.

I see that you only went to India and Indonesia. I wonder if this is the same for other countries in southeast Asia.

When I went to the Philippines in 2006, I stayed mostly in metro Manila, where toilets were aplenty. I'm sure there were toilet issue in some areas, especially in the 'squatter' area (shanty towns).

But after watching this, I wonder if the rural part of the country is having the same issues as other southeast Asian countries.

@ calgar c, I briefly heard about the mention of a ''2 girl 1 cup'' video on youtube but 2 my understanding it was pornographic and very grotesque in nature. this video on the toilet crisis depicts how billions of ppl across the globe are affected by not having simple western technologies such as a toilet. While some aspects were hard to watch the point of the story definitely was made.Number 1 we as americans have much more 2 be thankful for than we know and that there are numerous cultures who are in desperate need of some of the opportunites many people of the west have become accustomed to. I will carry this story as a reminder not only 2 be thankful but to see what can I do to help improve the quality of life for someone who has simple needs we so often take for granted. thanks vanguard.

that was one hell of a story. it was "2 girls 1 cup" on steroids. this is why i love vanguard, they have real stories that matter.

great piece of journalism.