A Case for Composting? The Urban Death Project
听
By Lynne Bell
听听听听听听听听听听听
听听听听听听听听听听听 According to the Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook, the global death rate for humans averages almost 8 per 1,000 people. And according to blog where I dug up these cheery stats: 鈥淲ith over six billion people on the planet, that's about 55.3 million deaths per year-151,600 a day, 6,316 an hour, 105 a minute and nearly two per second.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 And as the blog so sensitively puts it: 鈥淭hat's a lot of bodies to dump.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 Which brings us to this week's topic, Gentle Reader: the Urban Death Project, which is making a case for composting human corpses.
听听听听听听听听听听听 Here in the land of wide open spaces, shrinking cemetery space may not be an issue, but according to Seattle architect, Katrina Spade-who founded the non-profit Urban Death Project-it's already a concern in big cities. Spade's project promises to alleviate that pressure space-wise, and is also touted as an environmentally-friendly alternative to other burial options, including cremation.
听听听听听听听听听听听 Spade is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the Urban Death Project. Money听 raised will pay for the design of a process that will turn a human body into soil through natural decomposition, within several weeks. And it also allows anyone who pledges at least $2,500 USD the chance to be one of the first in line to have their remains composted via Urban Death.
听听听听听听听听听听听 Spade told the CBC: 鈥淚 like to think about what happens to a body at the Urban Death facility being a lot like leaf litter on the forest floor,鈥� adding that each year in the U.S., in excess of one million bodies are buried with: 鈥渆nough metal to build San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, enough wood to build 1,800 single family homes and enough carcinogenic embalming fluid to fill eight Olympic-sized swimming pools.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 And cremation's not off the hook, either, as Spade states that it emits massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
听听听听听听听听听听听 Spade says her proposed process involves composting people in a three-storey 鈥渃ore,鈥� which will be located in an urban centre. Mourners would 鈥渃arry the deceased to the top of this core, lay the body in wood chips and sawdust, and begin the transformation of that person from human to soil.鈥澨� Her system-based on the same methods used to compost livestock-will result in a four-to six-week process of decomposition, at which time the deceased's loved ones could return to collect some of the soil and use it 鈥渢o grow a memorial garden or plant a tree.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 Predictably, opinions range wildly on this one-with many calling the entire process disrespectful and others hailing it as an environmental idea whose time has come. Although Spade has several hurdles to overcome-legal and financial ones, to name two-before her idea becomes reality; she says, 鈥淚 feel like the people really want this option.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 It's difficult to say if or when Spade's idea will take off. Bodies have always been biodegradable, but there's a big leap between believing 鈥淎shes to ashes; dust to dust鈥� and actually embracing the process so intimately.
听
听 听 听 听 听 听
From death comes life
By Kelly Running
听
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 听On a somber note鈥� did you know that being buried has become extremely creative? In days past cremation and caskets have been the typical burial method in the West. I鈥檓 not really sure what they do other places in the world, but for the West it would appear things have begun changing.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 The other day I came across an article by CBC News titled, 鈥淯rban Death Project: A case for composting your dead body.鈥� Basically they had come across a Seattle-based non-profit called Urban Death Project who is on the crowd funding site, Kickstarter. Essentially their plan is to design a system that will help accelerate the natural decomposition of a body, turning it into soil within weeks.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 And no the soil isn鈥檛 to be used for growing food, but the soil created out of composting the body could be used for something like a memorial garden or to plant a tree in.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 After reading the article I was reminded that there鈥檚 been some other interesting ways to have your body taken care of after you die 鈥� yes, we talk about everything in our Seeing Things Differently column it would appear.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 This includes something called a Bios Urn, which is a fully biodegradable urn which contains a seed, which is to grow into a tree transforming death into new life. This is somewhat similar to what the Urban Death Project is hoping to do but with one difference, the soil mix isn鈥檛 a compost of a body it is simply soil, while the ashes of a loved one are placed amongst the soil and seed.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 The idea behind both is to create life from death and to speed up the process of decomposition, while minimizing the costs involved with the burial of someone. No need to buy a cemetery plot, no need to purchase a headstone, no need to really have an expensive funeral鈥� for example caskets can cost a lot of money, while a Bios Urn 鈥� after a quick Google 鈥� is under $200.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Further research also pointed me to an eco-friendly cremation route developed in Saskatchewan, which is becoming popular across the country. At Gray鈥檚 Funeral Chapel in Prince Albert they鈥檝e begun utilizing something called water cremation, a change not driven by environmental concerns but due to the Funeral Chapel having been asked to relocate to a heavy industrial area if wanting to set up a crematorium. Deciding on water cremation meant the business wouldn鈥檛 have to move, while it did come with a green benefit requiring very little energy compared to regular crematoriums.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 The only problem with this one is that once dissolved the liquefied remains are treated and eventually released into the sewage system which I could see some people unhappy about. They might see it as disrespectful of the body鈥� although I guess a regular cremation could technically be seen as that as well.
听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听听Ultimately, I personally really like the idea of the Bios Urn and the Urban Death Project, which both focus on green solutions while helping create life through soil or being part of a tree.听
