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+--- Thread: Human compost funerals 'better for environment' (/thread-8152.html)
Human compost funerals 'better for environment' - C C - Feb 18, 2020
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51389084
EXCERPT: . . . The firm, Recompose, claims that its process saves more than a tonne of carbon, compared to cremation or traditional burial. [...] Ms Spade spoke to me as results of the scientific study into the composting process, which Recompose calls natural organic reduction, was being presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Seattle. "There is a loving practicability to it," she said, in one of the few interviews she has given since announcing details of the project a year ago.
She told me that she came up with the idea 13 years ago when she began to ponder her own mortality - at the ripe old age of 30! "When I die, this planet, which has protected and supported me my whole life, shouldn't I give back what I have left? It is just logical and also beautiful."
Ms Spade draws a distinction between decomposing and recomposing. The former is what happens when a body is above ground. Recomposing involves integrating it with the soil. She claims that natural organic reduction of a body prevents 1.4 tonnes of carbon being released into the atmosphere, compared with cremation. And she believes there is a similar saving compared to traditional burial when transportation and the construction of the casket is taken into account. "For a lot of folks it resonates with the way they try to lead their lives. They want to pick a death care plan that resonates with the way they live."
The process involves laying the body in a closed vessel with woodchips, alfalfa and straw grass. The body is slowly rotated to allow microbes to break it down. Thirty days later the remains are available to relatives to scatter on plants or a tree. Although the process is straightforward, it has taken four years of scientific research to perfect the technique. Ms Spade asked soil scientist Prof Lynne Carpenter Boggs to undertake the work... (MORE - details)
RE: Human compost funerals 'better for environment' - Leigha - Feb 26, 2020
I like that it's also a much cheaper alternative than traditional funerals and cremation, and uses a fraction of the energy used for cremation. ''The body is slowly rotated'' sounds a little creepy, but knowing that I'll be helping the environment after my death makes me happy.