Necropolis in crisis:
housing the living is one thing, there is also a problem in housing the dead
The news from the United States, has put the spotlight on a problem which has only recently appeared on the radar: how best, globally, to dispose of the increasing numbers of human corpses that will meet public health, cultural and ecological considerations in the age of the anthropocene?
The latest American offering is that of human composting using a process in which corpses are placed in reusable steel vessels together with wood chips, straw and alfalfa after artificial limbs, joints and pacemakers have been removed. This creates the conditions under which it takes about 30 days for the body to decompose into a compost mulch that can be used to plant a tree or grow vegetables...
The environmental and human health impacts of the fluids and materials used in embalming and coffins is a matter of growing interest and concern, and it is of interest that traditional Muslim burial eschews both in favour of rapid ritual disposal and the use of simple cotton shrouds as more universally favoured in earlier times. This resonates with the recent move towards simpler funeral approaches, not least green funerals with biodegradable regalia and coffins in woodland areas...As we face a new crisis, there is an opportunity to recast our approach so that each of us can contribute to saving the planet as the last act of our short lifespan.
The Secretary of State for the environment, Michael Gove, has recently announced a scheme for planting 130,000 trees in urban areas...it gives a clue as to what might be possible by joining up the dots of green environmentalism and human burial...
Surely what is needed now is a grand strategic vision for green burial places to reclaim our cities with urban and peri-urban woods and forests and for it to be a requirement for trunk transport routes to include linear wildlife burial corridors alongside them.
A glimpse of what might be possible with political will and imagination can be seen by what has happened alongside long-forgotten canals by neglect and default where wildlife corridors have evolved over time. It is time to revisit the public health roots of human burial and connect them to a new vision a planet fit for future generations.
The latest American offering is that of human composting using a process in which corpses are placed in reusable steel vessels together with wood chips, straw and alfalfa after artificial limbs, joints and pacemakers have been removed. This creates the conditions under which it takes about 30 days for the body to decompose into a compost mulch that can be used to plant a tree or grow vegetables...
The environmental and human health impacts of the fluids and materials used in embalming and coffins is a matter of growing interest and concern, and it is of interest that traditional Muslim burial eschews both in favour of rapid ritual disposal and the use of simple cotton shrouds as more universally favoured in earlier times. This resonates with the recent move towards simpler funeral approaches, not least green funerals with biodegradable regalia and coffins in woodland areas...As we face a new crisis, there is an opportunity to recast our approach so that each of us can contribute to saving the planet as the last act of our short lifespan.
The Secretary of State for the environment, Michael Gove, has recently announced a scheme for planting 130,000 trees in urban areas...it gives a clue as to what might be possible by joining up the dots of green environmentalism and human burial...
Surely what is needed now is a grand strategic vision for green burial places to reclaim our cities with urban and peri-urban woods and forests and for it to be a requirement for trunk transport routes to include linear wildlife burial corridors alongside them.
A glimpse of what might be possible with political will and imagination can be seen by what has happened alongside long-forgotten canals by neglect and default where wildlife corridors have evolved over time. It is time to revisit the public health roots of human burial and connect them to a new vision a planet fit for future generations.
