If it’s Yellowstone, leave it mellow-stone? 1

After editing Grist’s recent three-part series on poop, it’s sort of hard to stop thinking about all the bodily waste flowing inexorably out humanity’s gut and into the streams, rivers and oceans of the world. Six billion people, relieving themselves several times a day, every day ... well, you get the picture.

Yellowstone National Park’s yellow-tinted hot springs sure can be tempting…Courtesy jimbowen0306 via FlickrSo with too much poop on the brain, it’s easy to explain why the weird news out of Yellowstone National Park caught this writer’s attention.

As multiple news outlets have reported, six men were arrested for getting a little too close to Old Faithful geyser last week, and two of them apparently urinated on the geological landmark.

Terrible! How could they! Right?

But is there an eco lesson here? Was their act of public pissing actually a statement about America’s self-destructive fascination with the flush toilet—a water-wasting, river-polluting method for disposing of our No. 1s and 2s?  Were the “Yellowstone Six” saying, “We are here today to pee on Old Faithful to draw attention to the need for a sanitation system that returns nutrients to the eco-system”?

Doubtful. These guys were being stupid, of course, and they happened to get caught on the park’s live webcam.

But Grist being Grist, we snickered at it and thought to ourselves, “There’s gotta be a way to tie this to the environment, right?”

Probably not. Still, it’s kinda funny. And we wonder, what other parks are public urination worthy?

(Note to self: When urinating in national parks, check first for webcams.)

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