Kristof

©  2009  Rose George

I missed this when it appeared a few days ago. Nicholas Kristof discovers the power of shit. A story about two American women – Sasha Kramer and Sarah Brownell – in Haiti who install dry composting toilets and use the resulting compost as fertilizer. I like the way he sounds as if it’s a completely novel concept. Perhaps it is, for him. Perhaps I have lost perspective, having been submerged in compost for three years. Anyway, good for him and good for SOIL (Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods) in Haiti. There’s a video too. A follow-up piece on SOIL, and Haiti’s long but recently neglected relationship with excrement and fertilizer, is here. Not sure about the “Why it’s sane to be crazy in Haiti” headline – what’s crazy about compost? – but interesting stuff nonetheless. A more sober piece on SOIL, and how Haiti’s poor soil is directly linked to its poverty and poor prospects, appeared in National Geographic last year.