If you’re located anywhere in, or around, a cold weather climate, you’ve probably gotten used to snow being a permanent resident on your sidewalks. I will spare you the bitter rant about how much of a hassle frozen water can be and skip right to the point.
A Maryland hardware-store owner, David Goldberg, is taking his toilet to the streets by turning it into a mechanical snow plow. That’s right, a TOILET PLOW. Now it’s not actually functioning as a toilet--I mean I guess if he was desperate….anyways, the point is to turn some heads, and I’d say it’s doing just that.
“People are more attracted to toilets — this very private thing — out in public,” Goldberg says.
Now let’s take the same situation and put it in India. A toilet in public would still be a spectacle in some regions but for a different reason. The idea of going to the bathroom in public isn’t the shocker. India is one of 27 countries where open defecation is practiced by a quarter of the population.
In fact, 2.5 billion people around the world lack access to improved sanitation facilities. So although a toilet plow- or any snow plow for that matter- wouldn’t be very useful in most parts of India, seeing a personal toilet is a big deal on its own.
Goldberg plows the snow-covered sidewalks with his motorized toilet. | Screenshot from YouTube Video
But Goldberg has the right idea. The shock factor of seeing someone sit on a toilet in public can get people talking. Whether he knows it or not, he’s breaking the poo taboo. His goal might be to get attention for his shop, but regardless, he has people talking about toilets and hey, that’s something. Because in order to improve sanitation practices for the billions of people that need it, we first need to be comfortable with talking about it. And by “it” I mean poop.
At Global Citizen, we’re all about toilets and all kinds of “shit” (we even have a staff member nicknamed “The Toilet Queen”) so the more ways to incorporate them into our days, why not, right? Am I saying that we should take to the streets of India with toilet-mobiles? Hmm...not necessarily but the work global citizens have done to push for improved sanitation means a lot. For instance, the passing of the Water for the World Act was huge. It was a great step, but there’s always more to be done. So for now, we can continue to praise the works of Goldberg, the motorized snow plow master, AND you can sign the petition on this page to help ensure every child, everywhere has access to clean water and sanitation services.
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Alex Vinci