November 19 is one of the only unsung days of the year Hallmark hasn’t yet exploited: World Toilet Day. Though we in the Western world may not realize it, that white piece of flushable porcelain is one of humankind’s best friends. Some 2.6 billion people — including 980 million children — do not have this luxury, which is one of the reasons why the United Nations declared 2008 the International Year of Sanitation. Almost 40 percent of the Earth’s population does not have access to adequate sanitation, neither basic toilets nor hygiene facilities, according to the latest U.N. Development Program statistics. What does this all mean? A lot of death, a lot of sickness, a lot of lost dignity, and millions of tourist dollars unearned. One child dies every 15 seconds from water-born disease. More than 400 million schooldays are lost worldwide every year because of diarrheal diseases. [The Smart Set]