You Must Compost Your Body After Death
One day you will die. The end of your life is approaching and you may not know how, when or why it will happen, but you can be sure that it will happen. While this will be the end for you, your death could be the beginning of life for any number of other organisms. The world will always go on, but your death can help keep it going. While you can contribute to the advancement of medicine by donating your body to science, or at least avoiding formaldehyde burial, you have even more sustainable options that can help the planet quite quickly and effectively.
Think, for example, of composting or alkaline hydrolysis, which can turn your body into soil or a completely organic liquid, respectively. Here’s what you need to know.
Why should you think about sustainability when planning your death?
Even after you are gone, the planet will continue to spin and your friends, family members and loved ones will continue to live on it. Of course, what happens to your body won’t matter to you since you’ll be dead and all, but think about them.
Traditional options such as cremation and burial are perfectly acceptable. Don’t be discouraged by using the limited opportunities that have been given to you. At the same time, cremation requires about 30 gallons of fuel to burn the body for 90 minutes at 1600°F, then greenhouse gases are blown out and charred carbon is left behind. Embalming depends on chemicals and your coffin will be placed in a pit fortified with valuable resources. This is not the best option for the environment.
“What’s happening is that we’re really polluting the environment,” says Elisabeth Fournier , author of The Green Burial Guide . “We bury people in the ground with toxic chemicals inside, such as embalming fluid, we bury steel or bearing metal. Not only are these fantastic resources, but they also kind of clutter up the work there. It’s the same with cremation: we throw everything in our body into the ozone layer.”
Micah Truman, CEO of Return Home Human Composting, advises considering that if you are cremated, the emission of gases and use of fuel will be “the last thing you do on this planet.” Think about what you want your actual last action to be. Wouldn’t it be great if the last thing you ever did was return to the environment so it can continue to care for those you leave behind?
How do these sustainable options work?
Fournier noted that sea burials are legal in all 50 states, but you have other options (which is fine if you live in a landlocked area). Let’s talk about natural organic regeneration, or NOR.
The Truman Company offers just one option for those who seek sustainability to the very end and beyond. Homecoming is based in Washington DC, where green burial processes are legal. They are also legal in Oregon and Colorado, though that legality won’t go into effect in Oregon until later this summer. (Fournier, who owns Cornerstone Funeral Services in the state, is on the council of people helping to develop the guidelines.) Both said the move to legalize such decisions is fast: Maine, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York are among the states that are at various stages of discussion.
Fournier and Truman dismantled the composting process. What you need to know is that the body is placed in a vessel with organic materials. Fournier described how the vessel could be rocked by hand and needed to be heated to about 160-165 degrees Fahrenheit in order to hasten the natural breakdown.
Truman said his terrarium process takes 60 days. In the first month, the body of the deceased is placed in a vessel surrounded by organic material. The process of turning this body into soil is aerobic, meaning it uses oxygen in addition to the body’s microbes.
“Things that digest the food we eat also transform us,” Truman said. “We are destined to return to Earth.”
After 30 days, the body completely turns into soil, leaving behind bones. The bones are restored, the material is transferred to a smaller container, and it is infused for another 30 days. Overall, it requires 90% less energy than cremation. (You can see this in action on TikTok ‘s Homecoming, which has amassed millions of views to be transparent about the process.)
The result is about 400 pounds of soil. The family of the deceased can take as much land as they wish, and the companies providing these services have places where they can leave the rest. From there, the soil, which Truman said should be used sparingly because it is highly nutritious, can be used to grow new plants. Testing the soil showed no “toxic signs of concern,” he said, which is a fancy way of saying it’s safe.
“This is the essence of life,” he said. “It’s what grows our Earth.”
By following the legal guidelines for transporting a corpse across state lines, the body can even be sent to NOR companies and then returned to your family wherever they are. Fournier cautioned, however, that when considering green burial, you should consider how much fuel it would take to transport a body across state lines, whether by plane or by car: “That’s a lot of resources to get you anywhere.” compost.”
Alkaline hydrolysis is also stable, although Truman warned that “the optics are a little tricky”. The body is placed in a sealed pressure vessel and is essentially pressure cooked until it is a completely organic liquid that can be poured out.
What can you do while you are still alive and well?
You can also help this movement towards sustainable burial right now.
“If anyone is interested in these things, they should know about them,” Fournier said. “We think that we have these limited options, that we only have what our parents had, or our grandparents or our neighbors, but there are a lot of options. If you talk to your local funeral home and don’t feel like you’re getting anywhere, call another funeral home again.”
You can also take part in a legal battle. Fournier pointed out that there may be opposition to the NOR – for example, from strong attackers such as the Catholic Church – but like-minded people can come together and make significant progress.
“Death is hard,” Fournier said, “and it’s very hard to lose someone. If you can do all these things and really give back to the Earth, that’s a damn good situation.”