📗 SWANK Dispatch: Faecal Sovereignty and the Philosophy of Refusal
🗓️ 27 March 2020
Filed Under: composting rights, ecological sanitation, garden-based education, homeschooling autonomy, climate literacy, pandemic misdirection, sustainable parenting, institutional disrespect
“It is disrespectful to me and my children to expect me to split my attention without advanced notice… I am their school teacher.”
— A Mother with a Master’s Degree and a Latrine Aligned to the Law
This lush, philosophical and legally grounded letter is not merely a defence —
It is a declaration of infrastructural ethics.
When Polly Chromatic was repeatedly questioned about her composting toilet, her Hugelkultur garden, and her environmental standards, she responded with something better than justification:
An ecological manifesto rooted in law, pedagogy, and principle.
🧱 I. The Toilet Is Not the Problem — The System Is
Social workers alleged concern over "sewerage."
Polly responded with:
A full explanation of dry latrines
Statistics on water waste and freshwater scarcity
Citations from TCI’s Public and Environmental Health Ordinance
A quote from The Guardian on thermophilic composting
Her refusal to install mould-generating indoor plumbing due to ongoing renovation
In short:
They see a bucket. She sees a planetary solution.
🌱 II. The Garden as Curriculum
The letter details:
Hugelkultur method, rooted in Waldorf education
Gardening as experiential pedagogy: sun, rain, taste, growth, decay
Decomposition as a lesson in life cycles and ecological balance
Her children’s active participation and pride in the project
It’s not a pile of waste.
It’s a living syllabus.
🗣️ III. The Real Issue? Communication Failure
Polly requested:
Respect for her home as an educational space
Appointments in writing
Written notices from the owner to the owner, not her husband
Policy clarity
Professionalism
A functional definition of “safeguarding” that does not include contempt for sustainability
She ends with this razor-sharp note:
“I have not once been welcome to make a meaningful contribution to my own family care plan.”
And yet, she keeps offering contributions —
Legal ones. Ecological ones. Pedagogical ones.
They keep discarding them like trash.