How Poo Connects Humans to the Universe

Is the world a pyramid with humans on top, or a tightly knitted web, where we humans are dependent on and interconnected with other critters and ecosystems?  In this talk, I describe how poo, the act and the material, illustrates this interconnectedness, and how by hiding and mistreating our poo, we further impair our bonds to the world. In order to rebuild relationships of reciprocity to the earth, we need to radically rethink how we see and treat our excrements. This is a talk based on environmental sciences research, feminist thought on care, as well as my own work and experience as a researcher and an environmental engineer.

The talk is the introduction to the panel discussion "How toilets connect the universe" that follows right after.