WORLD TOILET SUMMIT

See this vibrant poster? Well it's from a wonderful organization I'd like to share with all of you...

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Delegates from dozens of nations gathered in India on Wednesday to open a World Toilet Summit aimed at finding low-cost methods to give billions of people access to sanitation.

The founder of Indian toilet advocacy charity Sulabh International, Bindeshwar Pathak, opened the meeting by calling for a war footing in the effort to meet 2002 Millennium Development Goals.

"To achieve the goals, what is essential is that technology needs to be urgently developed that is suitable and simple of implementation. Sewers or septic tanks are not the solutions."

Pathak, inspired by Indian freedom icon Mahatma Gandhi, began to build simple toilets in India in the 1970s and has developed a low-cost system that turns waste into water, fertiliser for crops and biogas to run generators.

The conference is being jointly organised with the World Toilet Organization, which was founded in 2001 and aims to make sanitation a key global issue. It now has 55 member groups from 42 countries.

Jack Sim, founder of the World Toilet Organization, and former Indian president Abdul Kalam were among the opening speakers.

Pathak and Sim have been widely lauded by organisations such as the United Nations which has named 2008 as the "UN Year of Sanitation."


Okay...I admit. I'm a little bit childish. And I am aware that functioning toilets are a necessity for health and sanitation.
However:

1. What kind of swag does a delegate come away with from the World Toilet Summit? Are there t-shirts for this event? And where can I get one?

2. Bindeshwar Pathak was inspired by Gandhi to build toilets. The next time I see his statue in Union Square I will think of that.

3. Jack Sim is the founder of the World Toilet Organization. Naturally, they have a website: WORLD TOILET ORGANIZATION
If you click on that link, cast your eyes on the cartoon toilet with the snappy phrase: "Give-a-potty. Go on. Ease them..."

4. Also note on the website that there is the opportunity to attend World Toilet College. I think this is a viable threat to use against kids who won't study for the SAT:
"Billy, if you flunk the SAT you won't be going to Harvard. You won't be going to Tufts. Hell, you won't even be going to that dumpy community college next to the Waffle House. You're headed straight to World Toilet College."

5. According to the experts at the World Toilet Organization:
"World Toilet Day has been declared to be on the 19th of November each year. The purpose of having this day is to have people in all countries to take action, increase awareness of toilet user’s right to a better toilet environment, and to demand for it from toilet owners. As such, it is also the toilet user’s duty to contribute towards its maintenance, cleanliness and hygiene. The public marks the day to practice toilet etiquette, the restroom community-at-large celebrates with a new declaration for the forthcoming year."

I SMELL A THEME PARTY!!!

5. The UN has proclaimed 2008 the "UN YEAR OF SANITATION". Beautiful! Now I know what my New Years toast will be.

UPDATE:
I just took the "What kind of toilet paper are you?" quiz on the Toilet Entertainment section of the World Toilet Organization website.
Turns out I'm the fancy quilted kind! Who knew?