When considering recycling, many things come to mind.. aluminum, plastic, paper. You don’t usually contemplate ways to continue recycling into the afterlife.
But now, everyone is trying to think of ways to be more environmentally friendly. This includes what kind of footprint (lol) you leave once you cease to live. Personally, I have never understood the idea of being filled with chemicals and placed in a super duper casket 6ft under ground. What is the purpose of keeping your body so tightly in tact in such an impenetrable box? I remember being told at my great grandmother’s funeral that she would look exactly the same for the next 100 years after being buried. At first, I thought, “Cool!” Later, I thought, “What is the point of that?” I mean, it’s not like she was going to need her body for some reason. There isn’t anything in it anymore anyway.
That’s when I started thinking about what I want done with my remains. It is now a dream of mine to donate all organs of use and have my body donated to science and my skeleton hanging in a classroom in a university. That way I could contribute to further learning for generations to come. But not everyone can do that. So I came across some nice ideas for a green experience in death.
I go into more detail on my video: Eco-Friendly After Death Options but the following are some of the most unique ones on the list.
Life Gem – your ashes being turned into a jewel
Vinyly – your ashes turned into a fully functioning vinyl record
Coral Reefs – ashes being mixed with concrete to create sustainable homes for marine life
Compost – remains turned into fertile compost
Pencils – ashes turned into pencils from a box with a sharpener that turns into a keepsake
3D art – sculptures from your ashes
There are many more. Most of the ones listed above are specific to cremation but not all are. Some are burying you in sort of a wrap just a few feet deep to encourage decomposition. Others have caskets that sort of look like giant casts which also aides in composition. Resomation is similar to cremation except that instead of fire it uses water and alkaline hydrolysis.
What do you think? Would you be interested having a green burial or cremation process?
Queen Meranda 