Okay, it’s a minor problem, but someone has to tackle it. You’re walking in a major urban area and you’re looking for a bathroom, but you can’t find one. Every business has a sign in the window saying something like “restroom is for customers only.” Never mind the complete lack of legal late-night deposit possibilities.
Berkeley’s brand new Liberate the Lavatory collective (LLC) was organized to confront this problem with direct action. They have designed and are constructing a bike-based mobile composting outhouse (“Out-and-About House” for short, see figure 1) which they propose to use in a campaign to get Berkeley’s merchants to liberate their lavatories. Once the Out-and-About House is finished, LLC will go door-to-door to businesses with customer-only bathrooms and ask them to open it up. LLC will park in front of businesses that refuse until they relent, providing a free and fragrant alternative.
This could be the next Food Not Bombs — every town with its own bike powered potty collective — and in fact, if you already have a FNB, what are you doing to take care of the, er, by-products of your meals?