Ugandan biogas toilet. Photo by Dero Sanford.

Happy World Toilet Day, everyone.

Wondering why there’s a day for toilets (I mean, there’s a day for everything, right?) around the world? I’ll let the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation explain that one. For those of us who take toilets for granted, it’s hard to believe that 2.6 BILLION people poop on the ground because they don’t have any other place to go.

Although we’re not exactly The Toilet People, in many of our projects, sanitation and hygiene are key objectives for the community. We include these topics as part of the training we provide, where needed. In our biogas projects in Uganda, we help participants build composting toilets that connect to their biogas units, helping them contain and then make the most of their family’s waste products.

I took this picture of one of the Ranch’s composting toilets (a “squatty potty,” if you will) during my last stay in the Global Village.

Two of our Learning Centers, Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas, and Overlook Farm in Rutland, Massachusetts, have composting toilets on their campuses to both educate about toilet conditions around the world and put the compost to use on the growing trees.

So dig in to World Toilet Day and see how you can help make the world a cleaner, healthier place. And while you’re at it, try giving a crap this holiday season.