The actor is on a mission to bring sanitation and safe water to the entire planet. Photograph by PARI DUKOVIC
He’s a famous, award-winning actor, producer, and screenwriter. But Matt Damon, 46, also is co-founder of Water.org, a nonprofit that promotes access to safe water and sanitation. I interviewed him in Washington, D.C., as he prepared to address leaders at the World Bank.
Susan Goldberg: So let’s have a conversation about poop.
Matt Damon: Great. With the group’s name being Water.org, if we ever solve the access-to-clean-water side of water and sanitation, I wonder if the name would become [deleted].org…
SG: I can’t print that! That’s pretty funny though. Exclusive: Matt Damon talks about open defecation—an awkward but deadly serious issue. Seriously: In trying to report and photograph the story on sanitation that is in this issue, it became clear that this is a hard thing to talk about for a lot of people.
MD: Yes. If you talk about something like cancer or AIDS, even if you’re talking about the developing world, people in the developed world totally relate. We all have people who’ve battled one of those diseases, and it’s instantly relatable. But something […]
Full article: Talking Toilets With Matt Damon