num_pages: 238
description: An utterly original exploration of the world of human waste that will surprise outrageand entertain Produced behind closed doors disposed of discreetly and hidden by euphemism bodily waste is something common to all and as natural as breathing yet we prefer not to talk about it. But we shouldeven those of us who take care of our business in pristine sanitary conditions. For its not only in developing countries that human waste is a major public health population growth is taxing even the most advanced sewage systems and the disease spread by waste kills more people worldwide every year than any other single cause of death. Even in America 1.95 million people have no access to an indoor toilet. Yet the subject remains unmentionable. The Big Necessity takes aim at the taboo revealing everything that matters about how people doand dontdeal with their own waste. Moving from the deep underground sewers of Paris London and New Yorkan infrastructure disaster waiting to happento an Indian slum where ten toilets are shared by 60000 people Rose George stops along the way to explore the potential Chinas five million biogas digesters which produce energy from waste; the heroes of third world sanitation movements; the inventor of the humble Car Loo; and the U.S. Armys personal lasers used by soldiers to zap their feces in the field. With razor-sharp wit and crusading urgency mixing levity with gravity Rose George has turned the subject we like to avoid into a cause with the most serious of consequences.
language: English
title: The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters
publisher: Metropolitan Books