The Collapse of Civilization.

I've been following the public defecation stories for a while, mostly out of curiosity about why it is a problem now.

This article offers an explanation - banning plastic bags removed one alternative to public defecation.

I doubt this is the entire explanation since San Francisco had a website reporting public defecation sites before the ban and the problem is happening in Seattle (which may or may not have a plastic bag ban.)  Needless to say, if the ban is a cause, it is a wonderful example of the unintended consequences of liberal virtue signaling.

In a way, this is a serious problem, as the Hepatitis A epidemic demonstrates. Epidemics of cholera were an urban staple until city officials broke urbanites to the rigors of good hygiene through social sanctions and legal fines. It seems that we are losing that social adaptation and thereby regressing in the name of Progressivism.