Human beings are special.
I mean that in two ways: of course you the reader are special, I am special, our parents and children are special. But also, humans in general are special when compared to the other species with which we share the planet. Not even considering ferns and frogs and falcons, but just species which we can see are sentient to some degree, still, Homo sapiens is different from all the others.
We’re pretty sure that our self consciousness is unique to us; our moral sense; even our understanding that there are indeed all these other organisms that we’ve taken the time to name and study.
And the big one: we understand that each of us is going to die someday. Even while we know that intellectually, many of us take a long time to really buy into that idea, deep down. But as we know that we will have an end, we also plan for what will happen when that time comes. We buy life insurance. We write a will ensuring that our loved ones will receive our material belongings. Maybe we buy a burial plot.
For millennia, our survivors have taken a body to a hole they’ve dug, lowered it in, and covered it with dirt. We’ve done that whether or not we considered it to have a religious significance, or even if we believe that the deed and the protocols surrounding it are commanded by God.
Through the years, we’ve gotten better at it, to the point that now we often seal the body inside of a wooden or metal casket (or a coffin, if you’re a vampire). Most people who haven’t gone through it don’t realize that the casket itself is placed in a concrete burial vault or grave liner. Still, there’s a hole and dirt covering what is placed within it, and then a stone is placed to mark the spot, etched with a name, dates, and maybe a pithy sentimental thought.
Embalming the body enables it to be kept in good shape through a wake, a funeral, and the burial, all of which might take some time while relatives travel. But it can also stave off decomposition for as long as fifty years after burial. The casket can last at least that long, perhaps even one hundred years, and the liner can last several centuries.
I haven’t done any surveys, but I believe the reason we do all that is because we don’t want to believe that the person is really dead, or really departed from the body, even though we know better. We might also want to keep the body from decomposing for as long as possible. After all, we’re special; we’re not like an animal dying in the forest and having its molecules distributed and consumed by Nature. That “circle of life” thing is fine for cute animated lions, but not we humans!
But some people have come to realize that the millions of board feet of lumber, the millions of gallons of embalming fluid (which will leak out eventually), and the millions of tons of concrete (an environmentally costly product) may be too high a price for such a fantasy. And cemeteries are getting bigger and bigger.
So cremation has taken hold.
It seems to me that the idea of burning your loved one’s body isn’t a pleasant thought, even though sometimes people choose to watch as it’s rolled into a fiery furnace and see it come out as grey ash a few hours later. Usually they might take some of the ash home with them, to place on a mantel in a decorative urn, or to scatter them in some meaningful place, or in the ocean. They might think that this is, in fact, returning the body to nature, even though most of the organic constituents went up the chimney, to later slowly rain down over the city.
And they probably think that it is much more environmentally sound, while not knowing that the equivalent of about thirty gallons of gasoline was used in the cremation, and over five hundred pounds of CO2 was released to the atmosphere. Nonetheless, it’s probably better than burial, and people might see it as the better of the two choices.
But lately, there’s been a new game in town, and it’s spreading. It’s called terramation, or academically, Natural Organic Reduction.
It’s composting.
You know about composting, even if you’ve never practiced it yourself. You put your carrot peels and apple cores and coffee grounds in a barrel in the backyard, along with some worms that love the stuff, and wait for it to turn into soil. Then you spread it on the garden where it helps to nourish next year’s tomatoes.
And it’s basically the same when done with a human cadaver, only no worms are needed. The body comes with its own menagerie that’ll do the job, in the form of the microbes that have been living in there all this time.
Here’s how it works.
It starts out the same as the other plans: a funeral home picks up the body of your loved one from the hospital, or your house, and takes it to their premises. But then it’s different.[1] The funeral director bathes the body and dresses it in a compostable (cotton or something) garment. The family is invited to attend what’s called the “laying in ceremony”. The body is resting on a bed of straw and alfalfa. The family can say their goodbyes, and if they want, add flowers, favorite foods or other organics in. When they’re ready, the vessel is closed and terramation begins.
The microbes in the body begin doing their thing and the body begins to decompose. Fresh air is circulated through the container, and the temperature and moisture is monitored. Solely by the microbial action, the body can eventually reach a temperature of up to 150 degrees. It takes about three to four weeks for all the organic material to be composted. (During this time, the family can visit and sit with the vessel, though it remains closed. Sometimes they add decorations or writings to the outside.)
At that point, the vessel is opened, any artificial components (hip joints, pacemakers, etc.) are removed for recycling, and any bones are ground up and returned. The vessel is resealed, and the soil rests and cools for another couple of weeks.
Then the vessel is opened again and the soil (1 to 1.5 cubic yards) is put into burlap bags. The family can take it home and add it to their garden. If they can’t or don’t want to do that, they can donate the soil to be added to a forest preserve that the company maintains.
Resources used? The power to run the HVAC system that supplies the airflow and the computer system that monitors the vessel’s conditions.
The people who have used the service are very happy with how their loved one has been treated (and how they themselves have been treated), and are happy to see nature take its course and to have a living memorial to him.
[1] I’m writing this as it applies to the company in Washington called Return Home. Washington was the first state to legalize terramation. Return Home says that they are the first and largest terramation facility (80 vessels) and the only company that offers laying in ceremonies and allows family visits. I visited their facility in the summer of 2023 and was very impressed with the people and the service. As of now, the process is legal in ten states, with eleven more having legislation in progress.