People are so funny. They're embarrassed about 'bodily functions' so there are lots of cute or coy ways of talking about places for getting rid of the body's waste products; names like ladies, gents, mens' room, little girls' room, powder room, public conveniences, the john, heads, the bog, the loo. I'm sure there are many more. But they all mean one thing: a place to get rid of rather smelly waste. Dumped, flushed - out of sight, out of mind. Phew!

But in nature, there's no such thing as waste. The stuff people flush down toilets could all by used as fertiliser for growing food. But mostly, it just gets thrown away into rivers, lakes and the sea, making more pollution.

What amazes me is that people throw most of this natural plant nutrient away and then spend vast amounts making fertilisers. Places like Nauru Island have been destroyed by phosphate fertiliser mining. And artificial nitrogen fertilisers need energy on a vast scale. The energy comes from fossil fuels... which then pollute the atmosphere and cause climate change.

So people pay twice: first, to throw away body 'wastes'. Then they pay again to make fertiliser by using stuff which will run out in a few years. Crazy, isn't it?