Rose George: Let's talk crap. Seriously.

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Òscar Aznar Alemany Reviewer: Aina Serra

Let's talk dirty.

Diguem marranades.

A few years ago, oddly enough,

Fa uns anys, sorprenentment,

I needed the bathroom,

vaig haver d'anar al lavabo.

and I found one, a public bathroom,

En vaig trobar un, un de públic,

and I went into the stall,

hi vaig entrar

and I prepared to do what I'd done most of my life:

i vaig fer el que havia fet tota la vida:

use the toilet, flush the toilet, forget about the toilet.

fer les necessitats, tirar de la cadena i no pensar-hi més.

And for some reason that day, instead,

Aquell dia, en canvi, per alguna raó

I asked myself a question,

em vaig preguntar:

and it was, where does this stuff go?

"On va tot això?"

And with that question, I found myself plunged

I així em vaig veure submergida

into the world of sanitation --

en el món dels sanitaris. [Riures]

there's more coming -- (Laughter) —

I encara n'hi ha més...

sanitation, toilets and poop,

Sanitaris, lavabos i caca.

and I have yet to emerge.

I encara no n'he sortit.

And that's because it's such an enraging,

I això és perquè és un tema irritant,

yet engaging place to be.

però interessant, malgrat tot.

To go back to that toilet,

Tornant a aquell lavabo,

it wasn't a particularly fancy toilet,

no era especialment atractiu.

it wasn't as nice as this one

No era pas com aquest

from the World Toilet Organization.

de l'Organització Mundial dels Sanitaris.

That's the other WTO. (Laughter)

És l'altra OMS. [Riures]

But it had a lockable door, it had privacy, it had water,

Però tenia porta amb pany, privacitat, aigua

it had soap so I could wash my hands,

i sabó, i m'hi podia rentar les mans,

and I did because I'm a woman, and we do that.

i ho vaig fer, perquè les dones ho fem.

(Laughter) (Applause)

[Rialles] [Aplaudiments]

But that day, when I asked that question,

Llavors, quan m'ho vaig preguntar,

I learned something, and that was that I'd grown up thinking

em vaig adonar que havia viscut creient

that a toilet like that was my right,

que tenir un lavabo així era un dret,

when in fact it's a privilege.

quan, de fet, és un privilegi.

2.5 billion people worldwide have no adequate toilet.

2.500 milions de persones al món no tenen lavabo.

They don't have a bucket or a box.

No tenen una galleda o una caixa.

Forty percent of the world with no adequate toilet.

El 40% del món no té un lavabo decent.

And they have to do what this little boy is doing

I han de fer el que fa aquest nen

by the side of the Mumbai Airport expressway,

al costat de l'aeroport de Mumbai,

which is called open defecation,

defecar a l'aire lliure,

or poo-pooing in the open.

o cagar a la intempèrie.

And he does that every day,

I ho fa cada dia,

and every day, probably, that guy in the picture

i cada dia, probablement, aquest home

walks on by,

passa de llarg,

because he sees that little boy, but he doesn't see him.

perquè veu el nen, però no el veu.

But he should, because the problem

I l'hauria de veure. Aquest és el problema,

with all that poop lying around

perquè tota la caca escampada

is that poop carries passengers.

porta passatgers.

Fifty communicable diseases like to travel in human shit.

50 malalties contagioses viatgen en la merda humana.

All those things, the eggs, the cysts,

Els ous, les larves, els paràsits,

the bacteria, the viruses, all those can travel

els bacteris, els virus, tots viatgen

in one gram of human feces.

en un gram de femta humana.

How? Well, that little boy will not have washed his hands.

Com? Bé, aquest nen no s'ha rentat les mans

He's barefoot. He'll run back into his house,

i va descalç. Correrà cap a casa

and he will contaminate his drinking water and his food

i contaminarà l'aigua potable i el menjar

and his environment

i el seu entorn

with whatever diseases he may be carrying

amb les malalties que transporti

by fecal particles that are on his fingers and feet.

en les partícules fecals dels dits i dels peus.

In what I call the flushed-and-plumbed world

En el món amb cadena i canonades

that most of us in this room are lucky to live in,

en què nosaltres tenim la sort de viure,

the most common symptoms associated with those diseases,

el símptoma més comú d'aquestes malalties,

diarrhea, is now a bit of a joke.

la diarrea, és una broma.

It's the runs, the Hershey squirts, the squits.

Les caguetes, la diarrea explosiva, la pasterada...

Where I come from, we call it Delhi belly,

Alguns l'anomenem 'ventre de Delhi',

as a legacy of empire.

com un llegat de l'imperi.

But if you search for a stock photo of diarrhea

Però si busqueu una foto d'arxiu de la diarrea

in a leading photo image agency,

en una agència fotogràfica important,

this is the picture that you come up with.

trobareu aquesta foto.

(Laughter)

[Riures]

Still not sure about the bikini.

Encara no sé per què va en biquini.

And here's another image of diarrhea.

Això és una altra imatge de la diarrea.

This is Marie Saylee, nine months old.

Es diu Marie Saylee, té nou mesos.

You can't see her, because she's buried

No la veieu perquè està enterrada

under that green grass in a little village in Liberia,

sota l'herba d'un poblet de Libèria

because she died in three days from diarrhea --

perquè va morir en tres dies de diarrea,

the Hershey squirts, the runs, a joke.

de caguetes, d'una broma.

And that's her dad.

I aquest és el seu pare.

But she wasn't alone that day,

Però no estava sola perquè

because 4,000 other children died of diarrhea,

4.000 nens més van morir de diarrea aquell dia,

and they do every day.

i cada dia.

Diarrhea is the second biggest killer of children worldwide,

La diarrea és la segona causa de mortalitat infantil al món

and you've probably been asked to care about things

i us deuen dir que us preocupeu per coses com

like HIV/AIDS or T.B. or measles,

el VIH, la SIDA, la tuberculosi o el xarampió,

but diarrhea kills more children

però la diarrea mata més nens

than all those three things put together.

que aquestes malalties juntes.

It's a very potent weapon of mass destruction.

És una arma de destrucció massiva potent.

And the cost to the world is immense:

I el cost per al món és immens:

260 billion dollars lost every year

pèrdues de 200.000 milions d'euros cada any

on the losses to poor sanitation.

per sanitaris en males condicions.

These are cholera beds in Haiti.

Mireu els llits del còlera d'Haití.

You'll have heard of cholera, but we don't hear about diarrhea.

Es parla del còlera, però no de la diarrea,

It gets a fraction of the attention and funding

que no obté gens d'atenció o finançament

given to any of those other diseases.

en comparació amb aquelles malalties.

But we know how to fix this.

Però sabem com arreglar-ho.

We know, because in the mid-19th century,

Ho sabem, perquè el s. XIX,

wonderful Victorian engineers

uns meravellosos enginyers victorians

installed systems of sewers and wastewater treatment

van crear el clavegueram, el tractament d'aigües

and the flush toilet, and disease dropped dramatically.

i el lavabo de cadena, i les malalties van caure en picat.

Child mortality dropped by the most

La mortalitat infantil es va reduir

it had ever dropped in history.

més que mai en la història.

The flush toilet was voted the best medical advance

El lavabo de cadena va ser escollit el millor avanç mèdic

of the last 200 years by the readers of the British Medical Journal,

dels darrers 200 anys pels lectors del 'British Medical Journal',

and they were choosing over the Pill, anesthesia,

amb més vots que les pastilles, l'anestèsia,

and surgery.

i la cirurgia.

It's a wonderful waste disposal device.

És un gran sistema d'eliminació de residus.

But I think that it's so good — it doesn't smell,

I és tan bo! No fa pudor.

we can put it in our house, we can lock it behind a door —

El podem tenir a casa i oblidar-lo darrere d'una porta.

and I think we've locked it out of conversation too.

Però també l'hem oblidat en les converses.

We don't have a neutral word for it.

No tenim una paraula neutra.

Poop's not particularly adequate.

'Caca' no és gaire adequat.

Shit offends people. Feces is too medical.

'Merda' és ofensiu. 'Femta' és massa mèdic.

Because I can't explain otherwise,

I l'he d'anomenar quan veig les dades

when I look at the figures, what's going on.

i vull explicar què està passant.

We know how to solve diarrhea and sanitation,

Sabem què fer amb la diarrea i els sanitaris,

but if you look at the budgets of countries,

però si mireu els pressupostos dels països,

developing and developed,

en desenvolupament i desenvolupats,

you'll think there's something wrong with the math,

veureu que els números no quadren,

because you'll expect absurdities like

perquè us espereu absurditats com ara

Pakistan spending 47 times more on its military

que el Pakistan gasta 47 cops més en l'exèrcit

than it does on water and sanitation,

que en aigua i sanitaris,

even though 150,000 children die of diarrhea

tot i que 150.000 nens moren de diarrea

in Pakistan every year.

al Pakistan cada any.

But then you look at that already minuscule

Però mireu el ja minúscul pressupost

water and sanitation budget,

per a aigua i sanitaris,

and 75 to 90 percent of it will go on clean water supply,

i un 75-90% es destina al subministrament d'aigua neta,

which is great; we all need water.

que és genial; ens fa falta.

No one's going to refuse clean water.

Ningú no rebutjarà l'aigua neta.

But the humble latrine, or flush toilet,

Però la simple latrina, o el lavabo de cadena,

reduces disease by twice as much

redueixen les malalties el doble

as just putting in clean water.

que distribuir aigua neta.

Think about it. That little boy

Penseu-hi. Aquell nen

who's running back into his house,

que corria cap a casa

he may have a nice, clean fresh water supply,

pot tenir aigua neta i fresca,

but he's got dirty hands that he's going to contaminate his water supply with.

però té les mans brutes i contaminarà l'aigua.

And I think that the real waste of human waste

I em reca que res dels residus humans

is that we are wasting it as a resource

es recicli com a recurs

and as an incredible trigger for development,

i com a potenciador del desenvolupament,

because these are a few things that toilets

perquè hi ha unes quantes coses que els lavabos

and poop itself can do for us.

i la caca poden fer per a nosaltres.

So a toilet can put a girl back in school.

Un lavabo pot fer tornar una noia a l'escola.

Twenty-five percent of girls in India drop out of school

El 25% de les noies a l'Índia deixen l'escola

because they have no adequate sanitation.

perquè no tenen sanitaris adequats.

They've been used to sitting through lessons

Seuen a classe al llarg del dia

for years and years holding it in.

durant anys i anys aguantant-s'ho.

We've all done that, but they do it every day,

Tots ho hem fet, però no cada dia.

and when they hit puberty and they start menstruating,

I quan arriben a la pubertat i els ve la regla,

it just gets too much.

això ja és massa.

And I understand that. Who can blame them?

I ho entenc. No les culpo.

So if you met an educationalist and said,

Així que si coneixeu un pedagog i li dieu

"I can improve education attendance rates by 25 percent

"Puc millorar l'índex d'assistència a classe en un 25%

with just one simple thing,"

amb una sola cosa",

you'd make a lot of friends in education.

fareu un munt d'amics en l'educació.

That's not the only thing it can do for you.

I aquí no s'acaben les possibilitats.

Poop can cook your dinner.

La caca us pot cuinar el sopar.

It's got nutrients in it.

Conté nutrients.

We ingest nutrients. We excrete nutrients as well.

Nosaltres ingerim nutrients i n'excretem.

We don't keep them all.

No els aprofitem tots.

In Rwanda, they are now getting

A Rwanda, ara obtenen

75 percent of their cooking fuel in their prison system

el 75% del combustible per cuinar a les presons

from the contents of prisoners' bowels.

del contingut dels intestins dels presos.

So these are a bunch of inmates in a prison in Butare.

Aquí teniu un grapat de reclusos de la presó de Butare.

They're genocidal inmates, most of them,

La majoria són genocides

and they're stirring the contents of their own latrines,

i remenen el contingut de les seves latrines,

because if you put poop in a sealed environment, in a tank,

perquè si poseu caca en un ambient tancat, en un dipòsit,

pretty much like a stomach,

com passa a l'estómac,

then, pretty much like a stomach, it gives off gas,

llavors, com passa a l'estómac, emet gasos

and you can cook with it.

i serveix per cuinar.

And you might think it's just good karma

I podeu pensar que és només bon karma

to see these guys stirring shit,

el veure aquests homes remenant merda,

but it's also good economic sense,

però també és bona visió econòmica,

because they're saving a million dollars a year.

perquè estalvien 765.000 d'euros l'any.

They're cutting down on deforestation,

Redueixen la desforestació

and they've found a fuel supply that is inexhaustible,

i tenen una font de combustible inesgotable,

infinite and free at the point of production.

infinita i de producció gratuita.

It's not just in the poor world that poop can save lives.

I la caca no sols pot salvar la vida als pobres.

Here's a woman who's about to get a dose

Aquesta dona està a punt de rebre una dosi

of the brown stuff in those syringes,

d'això marró de les xeringues,

which is what you think it is,

que és el que esteu pensant,

except not quite, because it's actually donated.

però no del tot, perquè és una donació.

There is now a new career path called stool donor.

Hi ha una nova sortida professional com a donant.

It's like the new sperm donor.

És com el nou donant d'esperma.

Because she has been suffering from a superbug called C. diff,

Aquesta dona té un bacteri anomenat 'Clostridium difficile',

and it's resistant to antibiotics in many cases.

que és resistent a molts antibiòtics.

She's been suffering for years.

L'ha tingut durant anys.

She gets a dose of healthy human feces,

Ara es posa una dosi de femta humana

and the cure rate for this procedure is 94 percent.

i l'índex de curació és d'un 94%.

It's astonishing, but hardly anyone is still doing it.

És sorprenent, però quasi ningú no s'ho fa encara.

Maybe it's the ick factor.

Potser és el factor 'ecs'.

That's okay, because there's a team of research scientists

Però no passa res, perquè

in Canada who have now created a stool sample,

al Canadà han creat una femta artificial

a fake stool sample which is called RePOOPulate.

anomenada RePOOPulate.

So you'd be thinking by now, okay, the solution's simple,

Ara potser penseu: "Oh, la solució és simple,

we give everyone a toilet.

donem un lavabo a tothom."

And this is where it gets really interesting,

I aquí és on es posa interessant,

because it's not that simple, because we are not simple.

perquè no és tan simple, perquè nosaltres tampoc no ho som.

So the really interesting, exciting work --

La part realment interessant i emocionant

this is the engaging bit -- in sanitation is that

(la que ho fa atractiu) d'aquest món

we need to understand human psychology.

és entendre la psicologia humana.

We need to understand software

Hem d'entendre de programació

as well as just giving someone hardware.

a part de donar l'ordinador.

They've found in many developing countries that

S'ha observat en països en desenvolupament que

governments have gone in and given out free latrines

els governs han proporcionat latrines gratuïtes

and gone back a few years later and found that they've

i revisant-les uns anys més tard s'han trobat

got lots of new goat sheds or temples or spare rooms

nous coberts per a cabres, temples o habitacions d'invitats

with their owners happily walking past them

i els seus amos les ignoraven del tot

and going over to the open defecating ground.

i defecaven a l'aire lliure.

So the idea is to manipulate human emotion.

Per això, la idea és manipular les emocions.

It's been done for decades. The soap companies did it

S'ha fet durant dècades. Les empreses de sabó ho van fer

in the early 20th century.

a principis del s. XX.

They tried selling soap as healthy. No one bought it.

Venien el sabó com a saludable. Ningú no en comprava.

They tried selling it as sexy. Everyone bought it.

El van vendre com a atractiu. Tothom en va comprar.

In India now there's a campaign

A l'Índia ara hi ha una campanya

which persuades young brides

que convenç les núvies joves

not to marry into families that don't have a toilet.

que no es casin amb famílies sense lavabo.

It's called "No Loo, No I Do."

Li diuen "Sense cadena no hi ha nena."

(Laughter)

[Riures]

And in case you think that poster's just propaganda,

I si creieu que el cartell és només propaganda,

here's Priyanka, 23 years old.

aquí teniu la Priyanka, de 23 anys.

I met her last October in India,

La vaig conèixer l'octubre a l'Índia.

and she grew up in a conservative environment.

Es va criar en un entorn conservador.

She grew up in a rural village in a poor area of India,

Va créixer en un zona rural i pobra de l'Índia.

and she was engaged at 14, and then at 21 or so,

La van prometre als 14 i cap als 21

she moved into her in-law's house.

es va mudar amb la família política.

And she was horrified to get there and find

Es va horroritzar en arribar i trobar

that they didn't have a toilet.

que no tenien lavabo.

She'd grown up with a latrine.

Havia crescut amb una latrina.

It was no big deal, but it was a latrine.

No era gran cosa, però era una latrina.

And the first night she was there, she was told

I la primera nit que hi passava,

that at 4 o'clock in the morning --

a les 4 del matí

her mother-in-law got her up, told her to go outside

la sogra la va llevar, li va dir que sortís

and go and do it in the dark in the open.

i que ho fes en la foscor a la intempèrie.

And she was scared. She was scared of drunks hanging around.

Estava espantada. Patia pels borratxos,

She was scared of snakes. She was scared of rape.

per les serps i per les violacions.

After three days, she did an unthinkable thing.

Tres dies després va fer una cosa impensable.

She left.

Va marxar.

And if you know anything about rural India,

I si sabeu res de l'Índia rural,

you'll know that's an unspeakably courageous thing to do.

sabreu que és un gest de valentia inimaginable.

But not just that.

Però va fer més.

She got her toilet, and now she goes around

Va agafar un lavabo i ara viatja

all the other villages in India

pels pobles de l'Índia

persuading other women to do the same thing.

convencent les altres dones de fer el mateix.

It's what I call social contagion, and it's really powerful

Jo ho anomeno 'contagi social', i és molt poderós

and really exciting.

i molt emocionant.

Another version of this, another village in India

Una altra història, d'un altre poble de l'Índia

near where Priyanka lives

a prop d'on viu la Priyanka,

is this village, called Lakara, and about a year ago,

és la d'aquest poble, Lakara, que fa un any

it had no toilets whatsoever.

no tenia lavabos.

Kids were dying of diarrhea and cholera.

Els nens morien de diarrea i del còlera.

Some visitors came, using various behavioral change tricks

Uns visitants van usar trucs de canvi de conducta

like putting out a plate of food and a plate of shit

com posar un plat de menjar i un de merda

and watching the flies go one to the other.

per veure les mosques anar d'un a l'altre.

Somehow, people who'd been thinking

Els que pensaven que

that what they were doing was not disgusting at all

el que feien no era repugnant

suddenly thought, "Oops."

van pensar "Ui".

Not only that, but they were ingesting their neighbors' shit.

Es menjaven la merda dels veïns.

That's what really made them change their behavior.

Això és el que els va fer canviar de debò.

So this woman, this boy's mother

La mare d'aquest nen

installed this latrine in a few hours.

va instal·lar una latrina en poques hores.

Her entire life, she'd been using the banana field behind,

Sempre havia usat el camp de plàtans,

but she installed the latrine in a few hours.

però va instal·lar la latrina en poques hores.

It cost nothing. It's going to save that boy's life.

No costa res i salvarà la vida d'aquest nen.

So when I get despondent about the state of sanitation,

Per això, quan em desanimo per l'estat dels sanitaris,

even though these are pretty exciting times

tot i que ara vivim un bon moment

because we've got the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

ja que tenim la Fundació Bill i Melinda Gates

reinventing the toilet, which is great,

reinventant el lavabo, que és genial,

we've got Matt Damon going on bathroom strike,

i tenim el Matt Damon en vaga de ventre,

which is great for humanity, very bad for his colon.

que és genial per a la humanitat, però fatal per al seu còlon.

But there are things to worry about.

Però hi ha coses que preocupen.

It's the most off-track Millennium Development Goal.

És l'Objectiu de Desenvolupament del Mil·lenni més endarrerit.

It's about 50 or so years off track.

Va uns 50 anys endarrerit.

We're not going to meet targets,

No complirem l'objectiu

providing people with sanitation at this rate.

de proporcionar sanitaris a aquest ritme.

So when I get sad about sanitation,

Per això, quan m'entristeixo

I think of Japan, because Japan 70 years ago

penso en el Japó, perquè fa 70 anys

was a nation of people who used pit latrines

usaven latrines a l'exterior

and wiped with sticks,

i s'eixugaven amb pals,

and now it's a nation of what are called Woshurettos,

però ara tenen el que anomenen 'woshurettos',

washlet toilets.

o 'washlets'.

They have in-built bidet nozzles for a lovely,

Tenen aixetes de bidet incorporades

hands-free cleaning experience,

que els netegen automàticament

and they have various other features

i altres funcions diverses

like a heated seat and an automatic lid-raising device

com un seient climatitzat i una tapa automàtica,

which is known as the "marriage-saver."

anomenada "el salvamatrimonis".

(Laughter)

[Riures]

But most importantly, what they have done in Japan,

Però el més important, el que han fet al Japó

which I find so inspirational,

i que trobo tan edificant,

is they've brought the toilet out from behind the locked door.

és recuperar el lavabo de darrere de la porta.

They've made it conversational.

Se'n pot parlar.

People go out and upgrade their toilet.

La gent va i actualitza el seu lavabo.

They talk about it. They've sanitized it.

En parlen. L'han sanejat.

I hope that we can do that. It's not a difficult thing to do.

Espero que nosaltres també ho fem. No és difícil.

All we really need to do

Només hem de considerar

is look at this issue

aquest assumpte

as the urgent, shameful issue that it is.

tan urgent i vergonyós com és.

And don't think that it's just in the poor world that things are wrong.

I no és només en el món pobre on les coses van malament.

Our sewers are crumbling.

El nostre claveguerem fa pena.

Things are going wrong here too.

Les coses van malament aquí també.

The solution to all of this is pretty easy.

La solució és prou fàcil.

I'm going to make your lives easy this afternoon

Us faré la vida més fàcil avui

and just ask you to do one thing,

i només haureu de fer una cosa,

and that's to go out, protest,

que és sortir, fer-vos sentir,

speak about the unspeakable,

parlar sobre el tabú,

and talk shit.

i dir marranades.

Thank you.

Gràcies.

(Applause)

[Aplaudiments]