Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Toilets Help Reduce Overpopulation

In some third world countries, each person is limited to as little as 13 liters of water per day. Here in Canada, every time we use the toilet here, we flush 13 liters of water in one sitting! Imagine limiting yourself to going to the washroom once per day as well as not drink any water or wash your hands for the rest of the day. The article Toilets Help Stop Overpopulation uses the precautionary principle by stating how an issue such as overpopulation can be reduced by simply adding more accessible toilets in schools in developing countries. The implementation of these toilets is perceived to be harmless thus is a fine example of precautionary thinking. In the targeted country that Adam Shake, the author, concentrated his research on, Kenya, men and women had to share the washroom. Women were being harassed by men because of their menstrual period and defecation and they were likely to drop out of school. Statistics show that women that drop out of school are twice as likely to have children compared to women enrolled in school.
The increase in these sanitary areas will definitely help keep women enrolled in school which helps contribute to their self esteem and their ability to care for themselves. Now in contrast to what I believe some may say that the increase of these hygienic areas will cost too much and maybe be unrealistic because toilets cannot just be placed anywhere. Sewers must be in place, running water and proper resources must be available. I am going to have to agree that this strategy may be a little bit too ambitious unless these developing countries begin to start improve their way of life. In conclusion, the addition of toilets is a good starting point for developing countries to reduce their population rates because out of the whole world it is estimated that at least 90% of the world’s population growth will be in developing countries.


Resources

Shake, Adam http://www.twilightearth.com/children/toilets-help-stop-overpopulation-heres-how/, Accessed October 20, 2009

4 comments:

  1. Mike, your title really caught my attention,and your opening statement,really gives the image of how much water we use daily and take for granted. when i started reading, i was suprised what the article was claiming. i think he might help, slightly, and i guess something is better then nothing. The cost like you said would be huge, and i dont think the "juice may not be worth the squeese", so to speak. well done

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  2. You did a very good job at anticipating questions that others may have when you talked about the cost of the facilities. I agree that information is key to stopping overpopulation, not only to developing countries but also for developed countries who have much more resources. With all of our access to education we should not be contributing so much to the overpopulation problem by wasting resources; the water used by one flush was a good point. Good work Mike, your article was well written.

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  3. Mike, your article was very interesting and the author made an attention-grabbing claim. While it may be true that women are harassed in the washroom is it really the main cause for them dropping out of school? If not adding expensive washrooms will not have as much effect as the author has hoped .This is what you already stated in your article so well done anticipating others responses and writing a great blog.

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  4. as soon as i scanned through the blogs for this week your title IMMEDIATELY caught my attention. i couldn't help but read your post. so great on that! After i read it, i found it even more interesting to read. i would have never thought that washrooms could make such a difference in someones life but after reading, it seemed so obvious. i feel a little small minded now and it really made me realize how much i take for granted. when i think about out society here in canada, and the 13 liters of water a day...i realize just how much we waste.

    when i was reading other blog comments, especially the one stating that maybe women being harassed in the washroom wasn't the cause of them dropping out of school. i couldn't disagree more. i could totally see how it could be a major factor. and i agree with the author that it is most certainly a factor for women dropping out.

    i love the article and the way your constructed your points.

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