As I live and breathe, I am trying, to the best of my ability, to think globally and act accordingly. The two greatest examples of the absolute necessity to do so are our current pandemic and the climate crisis. In my humble opinion, it is essential to move from a self-centric outlook to a global one if we care about the future of our children, our planet and yes, ourselves. As the internet made us all one, these crises are putting us all in the same proverbial boat.
That said, I wanted to touch on some environmental options for disposition – meaning, quite plainly, what happens to your body after you die. In Canada, cremation of some sort has surpassed traditional full body burial for sure. That is good for a few reasons – right off the bat, the amount of chemicals in the groundwater and the amount of metal and wood being buried. I read a statistic that in the United States, where traditional funerals are prevalent, it's estimated that each year there is enough metal buried, to build the Golden Gate Bridge, enough wood to build 1,800 homes and enough embalming fluid to fill eight Olympic sized swimming pools. While cremation through fire is considered a step in the right direction with very practical reasons to choose it, there are other lesser-known options that are more environmentally friendly.
“Green Funerals" is an enveloping term meaning care of the deceased with as little environmental impact as possible, to reduce carbon emissions, preserve ecosystems and conserve resources. Just some options include:
GREEN BURIAL / A body is not embalmed with traditional formaldehyde-based preservatives. Vaults for caskets in a cemetery are not used and caskets/containers must be biodegradable. In a green cemetery, traditionally monuments are not permitted, although there are markers to indicate burials. Often a body is shrouded in biodegradable material and buried in the ground. There are no fully “green" cemeteries in Ontario, but there are hybrid cemeteries that have sections for green burial. In other parts of Canada there are, indeed, fully green cemeteries.
ALKALINE HYDROLYSIS or AQUAMATION / A body is placed in a stainless-steel chamber, and water and alkali are added and heated to a high temperature. The fluid, heat and pressure cause the body to naturally decompose. After this process, you have remains similar to the remains after cremation has taken place.
MUSHROOM SUIT / A body is placed in a cotton “suit" lined on the inside with thousands of mushroom spores that are activated as the body decomposes. Mushrooms quickly break down organic matter and help clean the environment by removing toxins in the soil.
HUMAN COMPOSTING / A body is gently converted into healthy soil. This process occurs due to microbes that occur naturally in nature and on our bodies. The body is laid in a special bed surrounded by wood chips, straw, alfalfa and other plant material, remaining in the material for 30 days to allow the microbes to do their work forming a nutrient rich soil that can be returned to nature, restoring it and nourishing new life. Unfortunately, human composting is not yet legal in Canada.
PROMESSION / A body is placed in a container and freeze dried in liquid nitrogen. Through vibration, the remains begin to disintegrate before being placed in a biodegradable box to return to soil. Promession too, is not yet available in North America.
For now, cremation through fire has become very popular - I'm sure because of the numerous options in what can be done after the fact. Whatever you choose - your choice matters - as it always has. Except now, more than ever, in this global community of ours, which perhaps no one ever thought was so small…it may matter for everyone else too.
AS I LIVE AND BREATHE
