They say public speaking is the number one fear, but I’ll bet composting toilets are a close second.

Women who don’t sneeze at wiping a baby’s bottom for three years squeak at the very idea of handling grown-up waste. Grown men who use railroad spikes for toothpicks and punch telephone poles with their bare knuckles cringe at the phrase “stir your poop.”

It’s hardwired into our psychology, I suppose. So let me be the one to tell you: Composting toilets aren’t gross. In fact, a good composting toilet is way less icky than the nasty effluent you drain out of your RV waste tank every summer weekend.