Caring about your climate footprint doesn’t end when you die
For some families, the questions about environmental impact are no longer limited to daily life: they now extend to what happens to a body after death. In a report published May 1, the Associated Press described growing interest in “greener” death options, including green burial, natural organic reduction and alkaline hydrolysis, as people weigh concerns about climate, the environment and health.
The report ties that trend to research commissioned by the National Funeral Directors Association, along with comments from industry experts. They said many people are focused on conventional practices such as embalming, fire cremation, and casket-and-vault burials—both for their resource inputs and for the land they require. Others, the report added, simply want final resting places in the outdoors they value.
One example described by AP involves Moira Cathleen Delaney, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of intestinal cancer and later decided she wanted her body transformed into soil through natural organic reduction. When Delaney died in October at age 57, her family sprinkled some remains under a favorite backyard tree and placed some remains in glass jars to keep or plant things with, according to the report.
Her son, Marcos Moliné, described the decision in AP’s reporting, saying, “For her, it was a very comforting thought to be able to return to the earth in that kind of way, and to have her final physical act contributing to the life process,” the AP report states. Delaney’s choice also reflected her interests in gardening, birds and the forest, AP said.
AP’s report also highlighted why some experts say the options can appeal beyond aesthetics. Mark Shelvock, a psychotherapist and lecturer at Western University in Canada who co-wrote a paper on green death practices, said, “How we die does lead to a substantial impact on not only the people around us and our communities, but the earth itself,” AP reported.
The environmental debate in AP’s account includes multiple components of conventional death care. The report said embalming uses chemicals injected into veins to slow decomposition and preserve bodies for services and viewing; it cited the Environmental Protection Agency’s finding that formaldehyde poses an “unreasonable risk” to public health, with risk highest for people working in settings where it is used. The report also said research has found the likelihood of that gas contaminating soil and groundwater is low.
On cremation, AP reported that fire cremation is the most popular option in the U.S. and said it is preferred by nearly two-thirds of respondents to the funeral directors association. The report also cited the Cremation Association of North America’s estimate that energy used in a typical cremation is equivalent to powering a 2,000-square-foot (186-square-meter) home for a week, and said that the energy is often derived from fossil fuels.
For traditional burial, AP said caskets and vaults are often made from wood, metal or concrete that require mining or tree cutting and large amounts of energy to produce, and that concrete can account for a substantial share of global carbon dioxide emissions through cement production. The report also said cemeteries take up space and require ongoing maintenance such as mowing, watering or fertilizing, which adds additional resource use.
Green, or conservation, burial practices are presented by AP as one alternative that aims to change both materials and site management. At Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery outside Gainesville, Florida, AP reported that natural burials are combined with land conservation. It said graves are dug by hand and bodies are buried in biodegradable materials such as bamboo or cotton shrouds or caskets made for the process, and that embalmed bodies and vaults are not allowed. For those wanting burial of cremated remains, AP said the remains must be in biodegradable, chemical-free urns.
AP said the cemetery is linked to a land trust that partners to manage, restore and protect the land from development. The report said staff remove invasive species, plant native ones and perform prescribed burns, while arguing that the benefits can include biodiversity and wildlife. Heather Grove, the cemetery’s executive director, said in AP’s account that conservation burial brings more biodiversity and wildlife and, as she put it, “if you want to talk about carbon capturing and all that, conservation is key to sequester.”
AP further cited a claim from the Green Burial Council that a green burial sequesters about 25 pounds (11.34 kilograms) of carbon. Elena Slominski, a researcher who has studied eco-friendly disposal options, told AP that a conservation burial “is by far the best thing you can do because it’s actually, technically a carbon sink. It actually restores ecological habitat and protects the land.” AP also included skepticism about practicality, noting that some argue the approach may not work where burial space is at a premium.
Natural organic reduction—Delaney’s chosen method in AP’s reporting—is explained as a different pathway to decomposition. AP said Earth Funeral, a company specializing in this method also known as terramation and human composting, keeps a body in a sealed vessel for 30 to 45 days with mulch, wood chips and flowers. It said microorganisms break down the body into soil through a process that generates heat, with temperatures reaching 131 F (55 C) or higher to kill germs.
AP quoted Earth Funeral’s co-founder and CEO, Tom Harries, saying, “What we are fundamentally doing is using science and technology to accelerate a completely natural process” using renewable energy sources. The AP report said some of the soil produced can be given to loved ones, while the rest is donated to conservation or reforestation projects.
The legality of natural organic reduction is described by AP as location-dependent. The report said fourteen U.S. states allow such a process and that 15 other states have introduced bills to make it legal, and noted experts’ view that it can be a good option where burial space is limited and more expensive.
AP also described alkaline hydrolysis, sometimes described as “water cremation,” as another decomposition-focused alternative. It said one Colorado company, Be a Tree, uses a vessel containing 95% water and 5% potassium hydroxide heated to about 200 F (93 C) for about 18 hours, after which skeletal remains are air-dried, processed and returned to loved ones as powder in an urn or shaped as stones. AP said many families keep some of the liquid for houseplants or gardening, while the report also said most of it goes to conservation partners as fertilizer, and that other companies discharge residual liquid with wastewater.
The report included a claim that this process uses about 90% less energy than fire cremation. Samuel Perry, a funeral director and president of the Green Burial Council, told AP he is often asked whether a person’s choice of disposal method makes a big difference in environmental footprint, and he said, “The quick and dirty answer is no, I don’t think this one thing is going to change a whole lot. But it’s always about changing industries. And as an industry, if we do better, we are making a bigger impact.”
In concluding sections, AP returned to the practical point that legal rules and availability vary by country, state and province. It also said the cemetery, conservation, and decomposition-focused options described in the report are shaped by those regulatory differences, with families seeking out whatever is permitted where they live.