Want to be as green in death as you are in life? Check out these green burial alternatives!
By Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
There are just about as many ways to deal with a dead body as there are ways to die.
The Melanesians of Papua New Guinea and the Wari people of Brazil, for example, had a very ecological burial alternative: they ate their dead. This practice, known as “endocannibalism” was considered to be one way to forge a permanent connection between the living and the recently deceased. It’s believed that this tradition even continues today, with several groups of people living in remote forests and jungles.
On the other side of the world, in current Tibetan and Zoroastrian traditions, bodies are offered to birds of prey to eat in what is called a “sky burial.” It’s still common today, with over 80% of Tibetan Buddhists choosing sky burials. They believe this ritual is the ultimate act of kindness: giving a bit of life to one creature via your own death.
The ancient Egyptians, Inca and other cultures mummified bodies in various ways to ensure the dead would be in a good state for the afterlife. And internment – the ritual of burying the dead in the ground – has been happening ever since the time of the Neanderthals. They, as well as many indigenous people around the globe, simply threw bodies into mass burial pits far from dwelling sites.
The West Is The Worst
Of course, when we in the West think about death today, the first thing that comes to mind is the typical funeral home, with the deceased lying in an elaborate coffin. Compared to the other abovementioned traditions, however, ours is the least eco-friendly, by far.
We started the tradition of embalming corpses with formaldehyde, methanol, glycerin and phenol in the 19th century. Few people know that these noxious chemicals spread through the soil and groundwater, poisoning animals and as well as water supplies. And let’s not forget that corpses are buried in wood caskets, which contributes to deforestation. As does the cutting down of forests to make room for all these bodies. Each time a person dies and is buried in a coffin, at least one tree dies, too.
With overcrowding in all urban graveyards in the 20th century, cremation was introduced. It may save on space, but this practice isn’t environmentally friendly either. More than two hundred chemicals including carbon dioxide, mercury, carbon monoxide and others are released into the air by cremation. And incidentally, it requires an awful lot of energy to burn the body, too.
So, what are the options for someone who doesn’t want their last act on Earth to be an environmentally detrimental one? Luckly, today there are several green burial alternatives, so we can all leave this existence with a clear conscience.
5 Green Burial Alternatives
1. Water Cremation
This is the new alternative to energy-and-chemical-intensive flame cremation, and it’s available worldwide. The body is placed in a coffin or shroud made from biodegradable materials. It is then carefully positioned in a water chamber. A water and alkali-based solution speeds up the natural processes the body goes through at the end of its life.
The procedure usually takes 3 to 4 hours before pure bone ash remains. Resomation chose its name from the Greek and Latin origin “Resoma.” This means: “rebirth of the human body.” This procedure truly allows the body to return to its basic organic components, after being placed in this “resomator.” The liquefied remains of your loved one will eventually simply return to the water cycle.
2. Freeze Drying
Swedish Biologist Susanne Wiigh-Masak, after specialising in Marine Biology, started teaching courses in ecological cultivation and composting. Her research made her aware that human death was no longer part of the natural cycle of decomposition. With this in mind, she invented Promessa, a company that uses her biological knowledge to give us a dignified and ethical way of ending our days.
The deceased is cooled down to -18C °, then frozen to -196 ° using liquid nitrogen. The body becomes very brittle and undergoes a gentle vibration of a specific amplitude which lasts less than sixty seconds. This reduces the body to powder in a matter of minutes, leaving behind only items such as fillings, heart stimulators, and artificial limbs. This also allows the water, which makes up about 70% of the average sized human body, to separate from the remains. It is vacuumed out and converted into a sterile steam. This entire process only takes about two hours. The odourless and hygienic powder is then placed in a starch urn that goes into the ground and becomes fertile soil within six to twelve months.
3. Cannibal Mushrooms
This might be one of the weirdest green burial alternatives. It sounds bizarre, but in nature, there are plants that can be considered carnivores, such as a fungus called Ammonia that munches animal carcasses and dead organisms.
With this in mind, artist Jae Rhim Lee created The Infinity Burial Project to convert corpses into clean compost. She developed a new strain of fungus: the Infinity Mushroom. It feeds on and remediates the industrial toxins we store in our bodies. In short, the mushroom converts corpses into healthy nutrients. The deceased is put into a “mushroom death suit,” embedded with mushroom spores. It’s covered in a crocheted pattern which is meant to act as mycelium, or mushroom “roots”.
The mushrooms will then eat dead skin cells until the body disappears. Jae Rhim Lee herself has been wearing the ‘death suit,’ allowing it to ‘eat’ her sweat, urine, faeces, and tears. Her goal is that when one day she will die, these mushrooms will complete the job. Rhim Lee has even begun a Decompiculture Society, dedicated to encouraging others to accept their own impending demise and plan for it in a practical and nature-friendly manner.
4. Growing Ashes Into Trees
Personally, this is my favourite of all the green burial alternatives. Leading soil scientists and arborists have developed a poetic and ecological way to enter the afterlife. The Bios Incube is the world’s first incubator that grows ashes into a tree. It’s an ingenious, sustainable urn of the future. You simply plant a loved one’s cremated remains, and watch an arbor grow with the help of an app-synced facilitator. This method does still use cremation. But rather than scattering toxic ashes all over the world, you can transform your loved one into a new form of life.
An app that comes with the Incube will help you care for the tree: it will water it, montor the soil and report back on the plant’s growth. You can keep the tree in your home, indoors, to have your loved on near, or set them free in their favorite space outside. With this method, you can literally trace your family tree, and witness how the end of one existence can constitute the beginning of another.
5. Ecopod Coffins
Forget teak or mahogany! The Ecopod is a coffin made from biodegradable materials that return your loved one to the Earth, gently. Its design brings together artisan skills with style, elegance and a respect for the environment. Made by hand from recycled newspapers, it is hand finished with paper made from 100% mulberry pulp.
You can buy one in a range of colours with screen printed motifs, plain white, or gold. And unlike some green burial alternatives, such as water cremation, this one doesn’t cost much at all. No wonder it’s an increasingly popular option!
6. Loop Mushroom Coffins
No one likes to think of their loved one slowly decomposing in the ground. But if we’re getting technical, a standard wooden coffin will hugely slow down the time frame it takes for a body to decompose. We’re talking 8-12 years minimum – yikes! Synthetic clothing alongside varnished and metal parts of a coffin delaying the process even further.
Loop is the living cocoon coffin that helps the body ‘compost’ more efficiently while simultaneously removing toxic substances and enriching the soil where new trees and plants can grow. Made from mushroom mycelium, the fungus-based coffin helps to give human nutrients back to nature.
100% natural, the loop cocoon takers seven days to grow. It uses local materials and without the use of electricity or artificial light. Unlike the decades it would take for a body to compost in a standard wooden coffin, loop’s eco-friendly coffin is designed for the entire process to be complete in two or three years.
Do you know of any other green burial alternatives? Let us know in the comments below!
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