Video: Talking Shit About Better Sanitation

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w0zY-66Ryw

Over the last month, we partnered with GOOD to help Give A Shit, a campaign to raise awareness and funds for the water and sanitation crisis. Why would we do this? Because 4.1 billion people worldwide are without access to adequate sanitation—a toilet, and 1.8 billion are without safe water.

For so many of us, it’s hard to comprehend what it means to live without a toilet. We can walk into any store and have our choice of “clean” facilities with running water and working plumbing.

Why is this important? It helps eliminate the spread of disease by keeping shit out of our water supply. Sadly that’s not the case for these billions around the world—billions that face the health and environmental consequences of open defecation.

Not really a sexy conversation, is it? No, but it’s one we must have and continue to have.

The Give A Shit campaign was born from the idea that if we can get creative and form bold and unexpected partnerships, then we can move closer to solving some of the greatest challenges of our time. At Water For People, this is something we firmly believe in and are taking steps to innovate for greater impact. Solving the sanitation crisis is much more than building a pretty toilet—it’s about building a market for sanitation services that will allow the solutions to continue functioning long after an NGO leaves.

But it will take more than just those of us working in the sanitation sector to change this. We need you. And I know you’re dying to help, so how can you get involved to help solve this crisis? Well…. You’re doing it now by checking out good.is/giveashit. It’s about building awareness and understanding of the crisis, sharing the message with others, and donating to help organizations provide more effective solutions.

I encourage you to check out this Google Hangout with our colleague John Sauer; Michael TS Lindenmayer, our partner from Toilet Hackers; and the designer behind this campaign, GOOD’s Tyler Hoehne.

So pass this shit along! Tell your friends, tell your cousin, tell your mom. Let’s build a movement of potty-trained advocates for adequate sanitation where we are moving together to end this crisis.