January 2009
→ Sarko
(31st January 2009)
For French-speakers and readers, an investigation by Le Monde into President Sarkozy's attempts to sort out the sanitation situation of his mother-in-law's villa. Tout à l'égout or fosse septique? The dilemmas of state.
→ WASH
(30th January 2009)
The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, a UN body run under the auspices of the World Health Organization, manages to have one of the clunkiest acronyms in the UN system, and one of the best advocacy campaigns. ("Advocacy" meaning, to most of us, PR.) I hadn't noticed that they've updated their postcards and postcards, and that you can now send e-cards from here ...
→ BMJ
(29th January 2009)
A provoking-in-a-good-way rumination on medical ethics arising from my book.
→ Oslo
(29th January 2009)
Great news from Oslo, which will soon have 200 buses running on biomethane derived from sewage plants. Lille, of course, has had buses running on shit power for a few years, and there are many interesting projects underway that are co-ordinated by the EU Biogasmax project. The question is why more cities don't invest in it.
→ Hygiene
(29th January 2009)
Great stuff about the "hygiene hypothesis" from the New York Times. I think I sometimes appear conflicted in my views of how much hygiene is necessary: I rail about pharmaceuticals, toxins and heavy metals in effluent and sludge, but drink tap water on principle. I lament the global burden of intestinal worm infection, but think the craze for anti-bacterials here there and everywhere is ...
→ Theology
(29th January 2009)
From Ekklesia, a church news service, a report from the 3rd World Forum on Theology and Liberation, which met in Brazil recently. We all know that cleanliness is next to godliness, but it was still a surprise to read that South African academic Steve de Gruchy had given a speech in which he said, "Previous civilisations may have got away with flushing the problem ...
→ Dubai
(29th January 2009)
Scandal in Dubai, where a stretch of the exclusive Jumeirah Beach has been closed because there was too much E coli in the water. As well as toilet paper on the beach and in the water. "It's like swimming in a toilet," said the manager of a sailing club. Tanker drivers have been dumping sewage into storm drains - designed to carry excess stormwater, ...