In 2011, some enterprising Burners decked out a port-a-potty with items to make it appear more homely.

Now other Burners have taken their lead, and are proposing to adapt America’s “Adopt a Highway” campaign to address the dark underbelly of the Playa.

Here’s the pitch from Adoptaportapotty.com :

Imagine if you were excited to check out a new bathroom to see what kind of suprises where in it.  (Weird huh?)

Last year we stumbled into one like this. A bathroom stocked with air freshener,  body spray, moisterizer, and extra toilet paper. It even had a flower print on the wall.

People took their time using it. People loved it.

We are going to replicate this all over the playa.

Together we are going to change everything.

What a great idea. Not everyone has the resources for generous or expensive gifts, or the artistic and creative talent to create an awesome interactive art installation. But anyone can do this:

“If you don’t build an art car or create something that spews fire, you can do this. This can be your art. If you do nothing else but beautify a bathroom you’ve contributed immensely to another’s experience”

Suggested items include air freshener, stick-on hooks, incense, art work, and glow sticks…

http://www.adoptaportapotty.com/items.html

In 2005, I was lucky enough to be one of only 1000 people in the VIP area at Live 8 London for the Pink Floyd reunion. It’s the area just to the right of the stage in this photo. While most of the hundreds of thousands suffered from the  limited number of bathrooms and facilities in Hyde Park, we got to drink at the bar and use the VIP port-a-loos. I’ve never seen anything like them before or since – the bathrooms had marble everywhere and hardwood floors.