Toilet Summit Tackles Issue of 'Potty Parity' for Women

Want to visit a nice public restroom? Try Japan

(NEWSER) - Toilet habits are a taboo subject for most of us, but not for Harvey Molotch. Salon spoke to the sociology professor, who co-edited Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing, about the bathroom fixture. Highlights:

• We should be using water, not toilet paper, to clean up: It's more eco-friendly, and also offers "more complete cleansing," Molotch says.
• Public restrooms should be unisex: Segregated bathrooms are inefficient, make no sense for LGBT people, and are not as secure as unisex bathrooms would be, he argues.

Field Museum facilities offer 'calming' art' and areas for kids

(NEWSER) - If you’re ever in Chicago and you really have to go, stop by the Field Museum—its restrooms are officially the best in the country. The natural history museum’s bathrooms have won the 10th annual “America’s Best Restroom” contest, run by restroom-supply company Cintas. So what’s so great about these toilets? Well, they’ve got environmentally-sound faucets and driers and are cleaned hourly—but that’s just the beginning, the Chicago Tribune reports. More»

Report shows gadgets can lead to better livelihoods

(NEWSER) - For the financially comfortable, cell phones may make life a little easier—but for those in less-developed countries, the gadgets can be the difference between a life of poverty one of relative comfort, a UN report finds. “Mobiles have spawned a wealth of micro-enterprises, offering work to people with little education and few resources,” the report notes. And subscriptions are soaring in the world’s least-developed countries, Fast Company reports. More»

China, India helped draft leaked agreement they railed against

(NEWSER) - The “Danish text”—the leaked climate change agreement that infuriated developing nations in Copenhagen and sparked accusations of bullying by rich countries—was actually drafted by a group that included China, India, and Brazil, among other countries. They had “input into the process and product” of the agreement, which seeks to impose stricter limits on developing nations’ emissions, an insider tells the Los Angeles Times . More»

Billions in promised cash unaccounted for

(NEWSER) - Huge sums of money promised by EU countries to help poor nations cope with climate change have melted away faster than Arctic ice. The EU and five other industrialized nations promised developing countries $410 million a year in the 2001 Bonn declaration, but the UN funds set up to deal with the funds have received only $260 million in the 8 years since, a BBC investigation finds. More»