| You’ve spent your whole life separating paper from plastic, eating organic produce, composting kitchen scraps and wearing clothes made of natural fibres. But what do you do when you finally expire?
It’s inevitable – we’re all going to die. Do you have to abandon your environmental beliefs in order to dispose of your remains? Have no fear – environmentalists have come up with ways to stay green even beyond the grave.
According to the Alberta government’s Vital Statistics Office, there were 18,795 deaths in our province last year, resulting in 7,769 burials and 10,841 cremations (the rest were put up in mausoleums or donated to science). One can only imagine how much green space it took to house the dead, not to mention all the trees that went up in smoke.
Natural or "green" burials are not only less expensive than traditional methods of disposing of bodies, but also provide an environmentally friendly alternative.
Once you’ve donated your organs, you can have your naked, unembalmed remains placed in a biodegradable casket (or if you’re the bashful type, laid to rest in an untreated cotton or linen robe, free of buttons, clasps or zippers). Eco-coffins made from recycled paper, cardboard or pine (absent of varnish, fabric, toxic glue, metal hinges or plastic) guarantee that the casket will break down completely once in the ground.
If you would like to avoid using a headstone (something that not only marks the earth, but uses up energy and raw materials to produce), you can have a tree planted in your memory and have yourself immortalized on the web. There are several virtual cemeteries where you can create your own memorial website where friends and family can log on and visit anytime they want.
BETTER BURIAL
All cemeteries in Canada allow for natural burials, although some still require the use of a grave liner (a concrete box surrounding the casket as a way to keep it from sinking). In fact, Calgary is one of the most progressive cities when it comes to natural burials.
"It’s really up to the family’s discretion," says Derek Maher, business co-ordinator for City of Calgary cemeteries. "Our only regulations are that it has to be a burial of human remains and in a container of some sort. Grave liners are not a requirement."
Calgary even allows two caskets and up to 10 cremated remains per burial space. At this point in time, the city’s cemeteries aren’t overflowing and the City of Calgary isn’t concerned over use of land space. Shacking up in the afterlife is a decision based on one’s personal beliefs – environmental, financial or otherwise.
"You don’t have to be embalmed or have a marked grave in Calgary," he adds. "If the family wants to scatter cremated remains, we have certain areas for that as well, or they can do it on existing gravesites if they own them. The sky’s the limit within the law."
But what if you can’t get into the ground right away? Scientist Pieter van Rensburg has designed a prototype for a refrigerated coffin. This practical solution for body storage keeps the cadaver preserved at four degrees centigrade for up to a month, eliminating the need for embalming fluid. The body can then be transferred into an eco-coffin and buried. The product is still in the testing stages but Rensburg’s goal is that funeral homes will buy his cool, reusable coffins as a way to promote natural burial options.
However, should Rensburg come up with a successful prototype, he could face moral and legal obstacles. The Alberta Funeral Service Association states that reusing a coffin is illegal in Canada.
OUTSIDE THE BOX
If you’re the sort of person who thinks the land is for the living, you may consider cremation the way to go. However, burning one’s remains can have a negative effect on the environment, as also destroys vital nutrients in the body that would help fertilize the soil.
The act of incinerating a coffin (containing lining, clothing, plastics, etc.) as well as your embalmed remains not only uses up fuel resources, but releases pollutants into the atmosphere. Although these are released in miniscule amounts, dioxins, mercury emissions (from dental amalgam), hydrogen chloride, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and sulpher dioxide will be discharged in the form of an invisible gas.
Biologist Susanne Wiigh-Masak of Sweden hopes to give the cremation business some stiff competition by developing ways to compost the human body. Wiigh-Masak’s solution is to compost human remains by using liquid nitrogen to freeze and remove water from the body. The body disintegrates into an odourless dust and is placed in a biodegradable container. She has conducted tests on pigs and cows and claims that the compost makes for good potting soil. But how many of us want to use grandma to fertilize our vegetable garden?
A DEAD ISSUE
"I think you’d have a marketing problem," deadpans Dr. Dixon Thompson, an environmental science professor at the University of Calgary who thinks human composting is a perfect example of the extremes some ecologically minded people will go to in their effort to save the planet.
He says green burials are a personal choice, but do little to help the earth’s environmental problems. He suggests that if people want to help the environment, they should do something about it when they’re alive, such as improving health and wellness, reducing car emissions and eliminating the use of poisonous chemicals.
"Maybe what we should be worrying about isn’t the dead people, but what we can do to reduce the body burden of these materials with the living populations," he says. "If not, you’re just looking at the wrong end of the lifespan."
Dr. Thompson suggests checking out the website www.naturalstep.ca to learn effective ways to help the environment and sustain local communities while you’re still breathing. |
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