A Greener Death

We have heard about green cemeteries.  Environmentally sensitive deaths have expanded beyond green cemeteries.  According to the New York Times article from April 22, 2016 (Earth Day to those of you reading this closely), others are thinking about lowering the environmental impact a traditional burial may cause. Mushroom Suits, Biodegradable Urns and Death’s Green Frontier starts the story explaining one person’s idea, a mushroom suit, or more specifically “the Infinity Burial Suit. It’s a $1,500 outfit that incorporates mushrooms meant to break down a human corpse, cleanse it of toxins and distribute nutrients back into the soil. No one has been buried in it yet, but … a man who suffers from a chronic illness has agreed to be the first.”

In addition to green burials, “[a]t Western Carolina University, researchers with the Urban Death Project are learning how best to turn corpses into compost. In Los Angeles, Undertaking LA operates a “do-your-own-death” workshop to give people the tools to plan home funerals.”

What do these new businesses have in common (other than death)? “Design and innovative technology seem to be an important component of these new death products. Roger Moliné, the 24-year-old co-founder of Bios Urn, began a Kickstarter campaign after customers asked for better ways to monitor the health of the trees growing from biodegradable urns. The company raised over $83,000 to design an incubator that, through a sensor embedded in the soil, will send updates to a custom phone app. Around 60,000 urns have been ordered and 200 incubators pre-ordered.”

So how do you know if burial products are truly green? Well, there is (you thought I was going to say app for that, didn’t you)… there is a council that oversees this.  The Green Burial Council grants certification to products that are actually earth-friendly. The list of certified products is available here.