The way we traditionally bury the dead is horrible for the environment.

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The modern way of burying a body, the “casket in the ground method” most of us are used to is horrible for the environment. It uses an incredible amount of resources, emits toxic pollutants into the air, and pumps the ground full of formaldehyde, which is known to cause cancer. It’s also prohibitively expensive. The average cost of a modern funeral costs between $10,000 to $12,000.

There are a number of greener options available though. Cremation uses less resources and requires less space than a traditional burial, but isn’t perfect. There are more experimental methods on the horizon such as promession and alkaline hydrolysis.

No matter which method we choose, it’s clear that we need to reform how we bury the dead.

Also be sure to read Mark Harris’s excellent book about green burials

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38 COMMENTS

  1. Just use nukes over China, China is killing the earth by its pollution. We must join the Republicans and make war against China. Our government is our God. We must give alligence to our supreme being, which is government.

  2. The thing they do wrong Is burrying the body with the coffin. As it mentioned in the video natural burrying is a better way because the body will join the earth so it will be used by other living organisms. Other methods are just waste of money and they are not so sensible to me at least. I believe that there will be a day of judgment that is mentioned in my religion. And in that day our bodies will be put together again and we will be judged by everything we have done wrong. I think that if people did the right way of burrying bodies, the other ideas wouldn't be exist. That's all I want to say about this video.

  3. This really isn't an issue it would take eons to fill up every space in the world and that won't even be a problem for very much longer considering the costs for caskets and funerals is more than most people earn in 6 months. This isn't new, undertakers have been exploiting this since the dawn of time

  4. I just want to be buried in wood and my body be used as fertilizer to forests. In that way, my remains will be useful to Earth, forests will be rebuilt and trees will flourish. After all, however dressed a person during burial, he'd still go back to Earth. Life after death is not real, accept it. Humans are just organisms living on Earth, just like fishes, insects, birds. And just like those organisms, we don't have the privilege of going back to life after death.

  5. But burying or cremating is a symbolic way to treat your dearest some respect. It does cost lots of resources, but because we treat human lives are special hence why we do marriage party, birthday party and such. One thing I do agree is that the high cost to bury or cremating someone is stupidly high…

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