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Rose George returns to discuss global health and sanitation with Dr. Felicity Paxton of the Penn Women's Center Credit: Christina Wu

Across the globe, four in ten people do not have access to a toilet. Investigative journalist Rose George, along with the Office of the Provost and the Penn Eco-Reps want you to know this during Penn’s Year of Water campaign.

George — a Penn alumna who authored the Penn Reading Project book The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters — spoke in Meyerson Hall Tuesday to address the sanitation crisis.

“Awareness is power,” George said as she urged Penn students to learn about issues that people often choose to ignore. She told the audience that nearly one million children die every year from diarrhea as a direct cause of water sanitation issues.

When schools in poor countries only have latrines and not proper bathrooms, girls who have hit puberty drop out of school because they do not feel comfortable, George said.

“The sewer systems all over the place are vulnerable and nearly 150 years old and are going to fail,” George said. She added that students who want to help should support sanitation charities that deal with childhood diarrhea and its treatment.

As a way to preserve water, George said that some in California have deemed it socially unacceptable to flush the toilet too much.

The Penn Eco-Reps have been hard at work raising awareness of certain environmental issues, since President Amy Gutmann signed Penn’s Commitment to Sustainability in February of 2007.

Sustainability Student Outreach Associate for Eco-Reps Julian Goresko said the group has been working with the Office of the Provost to support the Year of Water initiative.

“[Eco-Reps] give a student face towards Penn’s initiatives that involve recycling and other awareness events around campus,” College sophomore Francis Miller said.

The Reps — as Sansom House leader and College sophomore Vincent Park explained — host events with free food and activities in all college houses to bring attention towards their group.

Rose George suggests that students “talk about it and be upset about it” in order to raise awareness for issues they are passionate about, and Eco-Reps seems to be doing just that.

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