4 ways to take action on World Toilet Day

November 19 marks the UN-designated World Toilet Day. It might sound silly, but the issues World Toilet Day brings awareness to are incredibly serious. Here are four actions that you can easily do today to help.

1. Join the thunderclap.

In some countries, we can take our toilet and sanitation system for granted. But 2.4 billion people in the world have no improved sanitation, and nearly 1 billion go to the bathroom outside. Click here to easily share the image below in your social network.

2. Make a donation

Proper toilets could save the lives of 200,000 children every year, according to the UN. There are many organizations that make it their daily work to help change this. Show that this matters to you by making a donation right now. Here are two organizations doing great work:

UNICEF – Working to improve water supplies and sanitation for children in more than 100 countries.
http://support.unicef.org

Water For People – A non-profit providing water and sanitation solutions that will last for generations to come.
https://www.waterforpeople.org

3. Talk to someone about the problem

If you have kids, spend just a few minutes today telling them about why toilets are important and how they help us stay healthy. For inspiration, here is a Japanese toilet exhibition where people can slide into a five-meter tall toilet:

Or you can watch this slightly more educational video about what could be the greatest invention of all time.

4. Get adventurous

Did you know that there is an app where you can sit on the toilet and chat and play games with other people who are also on the toilet? Of course there is. It’s for a good cause though, since Pooductive (sorry) is working with UN Water to help raise awareness about sanitation: http://pooductive.com