Date: 11 Jul 1999 21:25:00 +0200
From: ASWAD-AT-anarch.free.de (catkawin)
Subject: Re: p.c. shithouses



carp said:

> > I have always doubted that these toilets are a contribution to a clean
> > environment: when the farmers take the "gold buckets" to the fields,
> > there's a horrible stench in the air and you can only pass fields and
> > villages in springtime wearing a gasmask....
>
> Ah, finally a subject we can sink our teeth into.

Bon appetit, mon ami, bon appetit.....

Anyways, as far as I remember, we haven't had a discussion on shithouses  
here before, or did we? So perhaps there's nothing new under the sun, but  
on -AT-list, there is. Now we can be proud of ourselves.

To add a few thoughts on the topic: I suppose one could hold against me  
that I react like an upstart, but somehow my upbringing does show effects.  
I hated the conditions enough I don't want to go back to them. That stuff  
came up often enough during my time at elementary school (1960-64), when  
living conditions were often asked for: how many families in your  
appartment, how many beds, do you share a bed with brothers/sister, and  
the sanitary conditions as well.

> Was it environmentally friendly?  Man, I don't think so.  Around here it's
> karst topography and my family's well was/is only 70 feet deep.  After we
> got a septic field and I left home I couldn't drink the water when I'd go
> back to visit Ma because it'd give me the squirts.  The small burg I lived
> outside of (village, whatever; it had about 200 people) had two old town
> wells when I was a kid where you could hand pump your own water.  The poor
> people at one time had to use these wells as they had no other choice.
> In the 1919-20 period a cholera epidemmic went through the town.  Guess
> where it spread from? One of the pumps is still there, but it doesn't wirk
> and there has been no massive movement to restore it,
My grandparents' well was close to the sewage dump as well, and I remember  
having the runs quite regularly when I stayed at their house....

> Is human waste good on crops?  Of course.  But it's also loaded with
> pathogens that you're putting into play in the environment.  In later
> years Pat and I lived in a low-tech cabin/shed on Ma's place the summer we
> got married. It had an outhouse too.  But it didn't have a pit.  The idea
> was you'd dump a scoop of lime dust on the job you just did and that would
> take out the pathogens after a bit.  We never put it on any crops though.
What's lime dust? I've seen saw dust being used, but not to take out any  
pathogens but to have a bit less of that stench. Of course, when you mix  
in saw dust, you can't use the stuff as fertilizer anymore.

catkawin