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Going Green After Death
Environmentally friendly alternatives to the traditional burial.

By Kelsey Johnson

You’re an environmentalist. You make your own homemade cleaners and wash your hair with coconut oil. When you go to the farmers market, you opt for organic kale and zucchini over the cinnamon buns. You only drink fair-trade coffee. When you forget one of your four reusable mugs at home, you slip the paper sleeve off your Starbucks cup, knowing the latter is covered in wax and can’t be recycled.

You live your life saving the Earth one conscious decision at a time, hoping that you’ll die having made a lasting impact on conservation.

Well, as it turns out, dying might be the worst thing you can do for the environment, and you have no say in the matter. Embalming fluids contain dangerous chemicals and carcinogens that find their way into surrounding ecosystems. And while cremation is becoming more popular, it isn’t much better. It takes 23 liters of fuel to burn down the average body; imagine keeping your oven set between 1100 to 1800 degrees Fahrenheit for three to five hours for every person wanting to be cremated. Through it all, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide are released into the atmosphere.

So take a second, stop lecturing your neighbor on her bottled water consumption and look through some more sustainable burial options for when you finally kick that fully-recyclable can.

Aquamation

For those who can be found wading through the lazy river during vacation, or those drawn to the soothing sounds of water rushing over stones, Aquamation might be the right post-mortem option.

It’s done through a process called Alkaline Hydrolysis. The process takes place within a stainless steel container and mimics how a body would naturally decompose in water. Lye, heat and water are used to dissolve the body, and according to Aquamation International, the process uses only 10 percent of the energy used by cremation. Plus, it leaves out all the nasty emissions. One of these “flameless cremation” facilities, this one named Aquagreen Dispositions, is now open in Chicago. Trust us, the water’s fine.

Green Burial

For those not comfortable with burning or boiling their loved ones away, there are some green adaptations that align closer to tradition methods. Families can request to forgo embalming — and in some cases concrete vaults and coffins — to lessen the negative environmental consequences.

Commonly referred to as “green burials” this method utilizes biodegradable caskets. In some cases, only shrouds or blankets are used to wrap the body. Specialized burial grounds look more like natural parks than cemeteries. The lack of concrete vaults causes the ground to rise and fall over time, creating an uneven landscape. Native trees, shrubs and wildflowers are allowed to grow freely. Rocks and other natural markers are used in-lieu of traditional headstones, giving the space a much more natural feel.

While the number of green burial grounds is still relatively low in the Midwest, the Green Burial Council can help provide eco-friendly options at approved cemeteries and providers in your state. If you can’t find a location close to home, be sure to at least ask to hold off on the embalming fluid.

Emergence Eco-Caskets

If you wanted something a bit fancier than a blanket as your eternal resting place, Emergence caskets might be for you. French designers Pierre Riviere and Enzo Pascual developed a system in which they felt, “Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed.” The pair’s design won the Designboom Magazine “Design for Death” project in 2013. The underground portion of the two-part design is 100 percent bio-based and compostable, and improves the growth of microorganisms while absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It’s designed to help the body decompose as naturally as possible and allowing for a tree or plant to grow into the casket, using the body’s nutrients.

The aboveground installment consists of two modules. This portion is designed with the living in mind, complete with a seat for visitors and a meditation area — referred to as the “reservoir of life.” The plant, which is connected to the reservoir, creates energy used to omit a soft light that encircles the memorial. This method is continuous, regardless of the outdoor conditions and is carbon dioxide-neutral.

Promession

It’s called the freeze and shake. No, it’s not a new dance craze, but a more environmentally friendly mix between cremation and burial. The process uses liquid nitrogen at negative 18 degrees Celsius to freeze both the body and coffin. They are then moved to a platform that shakes the brittle remains to dust. The remains are placed in a biodegradable casket, and a tree or bush is planted atop the grave to absorb the nutrients and to act as a living memorial.

The promession process was developed over the course of 20 years by Swedish biologist Susanne Wiigh-Masak. The process isn’t quite available in the United States yet, but projects have been planned to bring the process to the U.K., Sweden, South Korea and South Africa.

Infinity Burial Project

For those completely willing to reject tradition, they need only go so far as Jae Rhim Lee. A self-described “scientific artist,” Lee wants to stop the cyclical release of toxins into the environment through her Infinity Burial Project. She hopes her project will help people embrace their place within the environmental system, and wants to become a leader in innovative body disposal. “By trying to preserve our dead bodies, we deny death, poison the living and further harm the environment,” Lee said in her 2011 TEDtalk.

Lee’s project consists of creating a unique strand of fungi deemed the “infinity mushroom.” She has trained the fungi to eat decomposing bodies by feeding it remnants of her hair, skin and fingernails.

That’s right: flesh-eating mushrooms. These mushrooms are ideal because of their ability to “eat up” nutrients within tissue and stop the toxins already present in our systems from re-entering the ecosystem. Once developed, the fungi spores will be stored in a “mushroom death suit” in a pattern mimicking their natural growth. The suit is designed to decompose and reduce your body to essentially compost.

The project is still in its beginning stages, and specifics of the project are still being developed. Lee has developed a “Decompiculture Society” designed for people to discuss their thoughts and perspectives on death and burial. She wants to show that we are a part of our environment and encourage a shift “from our current culture of death denial and body preservation to one of (Decompi)culture: a radical acceptance of death and decomposition.”

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