--- title: "Bill Gates Reflects on Drinking Product of Fecal Sludge" description: "Bill Gates took to LinkedIn over the weekend to celebrate one of the nicher holiday: World Toilet Day. And trust us, he's really in the spirit." date: "2022-11-21" modified: "2022-11-21" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/bill-gates-product-fecal-sludge" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "Bill Gates" - "sanitation" - "the digest" - "the gates foundation" --- # Bill Gates Reflects on Drinking Product of Fecal Sludge ![Bill Gates took to LinkedIn over the weekend to celebrate one of the nicher holiday: World Toilet Day. And trust us, he's really in the spirit.]() *\Image: Dimitrios Kambouris via Getty / Futurism\* ## Silly Billy Happy Holidays to all, especially Microsoft founder Bill Gates. The billionaire philanthropist [took to LinkedIn]() on Saturday to celebrate a more niche holiday: World Toilet Day. And as proof of his zest for the holiday, the tech mogul shared — or, as some might argue, overshared — some tales of his fecal fortitude. "I've done some weird crap over the years: I drank water from fecal sludge with Jimmy Fallon, shared the stage with a jar of human feces, and smelled pit latrine odor," he wrote, adding a slightly unsettling image of him staring down into a toilet bowl. While we truly can't imagine a worse fate than drinking fecal sludge with a late night host, Gates' post clarified that he didn't do any of those activities just for kicks. According to his post, it's all been for a good cause. "These antics got a few laughs," he continued, "but my goal has always been to get people to care about an issue that impacts 3.6 billion people: poor sanitation." ## Sex Sells, Poop Doesn't Indeed, The Gates Foundation — the charitable organization that Gates shares with his ex-wife, Melinda — has made poor sanitation one of its [primary efforts](), according to a [blog post]() about Gates' World Toilet Day trip down memory lane. To his credit, it *is* a serious issue. Improper sanitation systems lead to water and soil contamination, in addition to illness and, in many cases, death, especially when it comes to children — an [estimated 500,000 infants]() die tragically die every year due to poor sanitation. And now that the global population has surpassed eight billion, these sanitation struggles are likely to only get worse. Unfortunately, though, as dire of an issue as poor sanitation really is, it's also a wildly unsexy one, which makes awareness campaigns that much more difficult. Which, we suppose, is why Gates has taken to activities like hosting "[smell summits]()," staring into a [beaker of poop]() onstage in China, and sipping "[poop to potable]()" beverages onscreen with a certain late night menace. But we guess if anyone could or should take such an approach to sanitation awareness campaigns, Gates, who has worked very hard — in spite of a lot of [really](), [really]() [bad press]() — to curate his Mr. Philanthropic Nerd persona, is the guy. In any case, we hope he had a good World Toilet Day. **READ MORE:** *[Bill Gates says he's done some 'weird crap' in his life, such as drinking 'water from fecal sludge', to mark World Toilet Day]()* \[*Insider*\] **More on Bill's toilets:** [*Bill Gates' New Toilet Sets Your Poop on Fire*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()