“More People Die as a Result of Poor Sanitation Than Road Accidents Each Year,” states Kofi Opoku’s Saul Bass–inspired winning poster.
James A. Pearson summed the problem up most succinctly in his contest-winning tweet: “Insanity (ĭn-săn'ĭ-tē). n. State of the world in which 2.5 billion people lack access to basic sanitation. Please RT. #sanitation #sanity”
The winners of Acumen’s Sexy Sanitation Challenge were selected by the designer Daniel Burka; writer/producer MacKenzie Fegan (submitter of the original sewer concept); Ecotact founder David Kuria; Steven Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From; and Design Observer’s William Drenttel.
Finalists in the video category are “Imagine No Toilets” (Pablo G. Vizcaino, Michael Malz and Sebastian Fernandez), “Sexy Sanitation” (Claire Seringhaus), “It’s Pah-tay Time” (Honeyleen Hodges, Victor Grigas, Aislinn Dewey) and “Toilets Are Forever” (Tina Santiago, Patrick Keenan).
Finalists in the poster category are Ang Wei Li and Louis Csontos.
Finalists in the campaign category are “Be a Potty Mouth” (Loren Osborne, Jasmine Norris) and “Talk About Sh*t” (Alvaro Junquera Saldaña, Abraham Auguste, Victor Serranoa Amador).
Tne finalist in the essay category is “Waste Wars” (Alexis Girard-King, Claire Seringhaus).
The next Search for the Obvious challenge will be announced in mid to late Winter 2011, its subject to be determined, says Wu. Maybe it will be ambulances. Or psychoanalytical couches. Or even credit.
Very interesting. This is great though. It is a disgrace that most people in the developing world do not even have basic sanitary living environments. Anything that can bring awareness to the problem and actually cause something to change is good :).
Jonathan
12.09.10 04:35
Julie, we must always remember the communities that are “too sick,” “too disempowered,” and “too frustrated.” While the American people were sleeping the world changed. Thomas Friedman analyzes globalization in his book The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century.
In Part V, “Geopolitics and the Flat World,” Friedman writes about the communities that do not live in the flat world. He warns us to wake up and to extend the benefits of the global economy and democracy to solve the problems of poverty.
Thank you.
Carl W. Smith
12.10.10 12:29
The Big Necessity by rose george is wonderful and amazing read by rose george about these issues, very worthy of a read, for anyone who wants to understand the context of the issue with humour and humanity. http://www.gogerty.com/shit-book-hints-at-one-key-to-human-development.html/
Comments [3]
12.09.10
04:35
In Part V, “Geopolitics and the Flat World,” Friedman writes about the communities that do not live in the flat world. He warns us to wake up and to extend the benefits of the global economy and democracy to solve the problems of poverty.
Thank you.
12.10.10
12:29
12.13.10
08:39