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Even as more people opt for interment in simple shrouds or biodegradable caskets, urban cemeteries continue to fill up and cremation is a problematic option for the environmentally conscious, as the process releases greenhouse gases. Now Catrin Einhorn reports at the NYT that architect Katrina Spade has designed a facility for human composting that is attracting interest from environmental advocates and scientists. “Composting makes people think of banana peels and coffee grounds,” says Spade. But “our bodies have nutrients. What if we could grow new life after we’ve died?” The Urban Death Project's plans call for a three-story-high polished concrete composting structure in Seattle called "the core," which would be surrounded by contemplative spaces for visitors. After a ceremony - religious or not - friends and family would help insert the body into the core. Over several weeks a body would turn into about one cubic yard of compost, enough to plant a tree or a patch of flowers.
For most people in the US, there are two options after death: You are buried or you are burned. The costs, both environmental and financial, are significant, but we accept these options because they are all that we know. Conventional burial is anything but natural. Cadavers are preserved with embalming fluid containing formaldehyde, a carcinogen then buried in caskets made of metal or wood, and placed inside a concrete or metal burial vault. The tradition of embalming in the United States is relatively new, beginning in the Civil War when northern families needed to get their dead men home from the South. Spade understands the idea of human composting may be icky to some, but it’s an important part of her concept, the thing that differentiates it from natural burial, which requires extensive land. "I’m sure I’ll continue to get pushback, but I’ll continue to be stubborn because I think it’s really important that we’re part of a larger ecosystem.”
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @08:50AM
Composting produces greenhouse gases as well; indeed it also produces methane which is a much stronger greenhouse gas than the CO2 produced by burning.
Of course, embalming makes sure the carbon is bound for a long time, so maybe it's the most climate-friendly option.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @08:58AM
How dare you suggest that composting isn't green enough, you evil antienvironmentalist you.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @09:16AM
If your composting is generating large amounts of methane, it's probably because you dumped a bunch of stuff in a pile and walked away.
You need to turn|aerate your compost heap periodically.
For this reason, a lot of folks make their composters from a barrel and make it easy to rotate.
(First, give it to your friend who likes to target shoot.)
A variety of different-sized content is good too.
Any animal-based stuff is a no-no. (That draws vermin.)
Preventing Methane Gas while Composting [thegreenenergyblog.com]
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @11:47AM
Any animal-based stuff is a no-no.
Human bodies are animal stuff.
(Score: 2) by jdccdevel on Tuesday April 14 2015, @02:39PM
My understanding is that animal products require much higher temperatures to compost properly than plant material. (i.e. Far to hot for a backyard compost.)
That said, industrial composting works just fine with animal products, since the process they use is much more active than a backyard compost would ever be. My City has a Composting program, and they take anything that will rot.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @09:22AM
Human body is 70% water, burning that requires a large amount of energy. Composting on the other hand requires very little input.
And if wanted the gases can be collected and processes in both of these options. Whether these guys do it, their sorry web page doesn't say.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday April 14 2015, @01:29PM
Dumb idea but how about we bury them in the desert turning them into mummies. Then we burn them as fuel. Trouble is getting the bodies to the desert. Though, some countries are turning rainforest into desert so they are ahead of the game.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @08:09PM
Human body is 70% water, burning that requires a large amount of energy
Or we could just put the bodies in large pits, and set them on fire, just like the Nazis did.
I think I broke a few laws with the above sentence. Sorry.
(Score: 1) by zugedneb on Tuesday April 14 2015, @10:52PM
but first, we should make lampshades of the their skin, shrunken heads, and soap from the bones just like the Nazis did...
hmm... wtf did I just write?
old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
(Score: 4, Insightful) by quadrox on Tuesday April 14 2015, @09:23AM
Cremation requires burning additional fuel and thus releases additional greenhouse gases that would not have been released otherwise, whereas compostion simply releases whatever has been sequestedered during the liftetimer of the person.