
<p>Climate change activists claim that global warming is already resulting in lots of deaths (although the number they claim varies widely) and will cause more in the future – to the point of extinction in the next decade (at least according to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and that overexposed precocious brat, Greta Thunberg).</p>



<p>We do not hear much from climate activists about the effects of … dying. ; We humans – and the rest of the earth’s fauna &#8212; tend to pass gas as we pass on. ; Quite a bit of it, as it turns out. ; And especially we humans because of our funereal rituals.</p>



<p>The major problem is the typical American funeral. It has a very large carbon footprint. ; You have the machinery to dig those graves … the caravan of cars … the production of headstones … etc. ; But the real polluter is preserving the body, itself.</p>



<p>To preserve the remains for posterity, there is the construction of those fancy casket and cement vaults– but why? ; I am okay with creating monuments for prominent folks as a symbol of their accomplishments and as an inspiration to future generations. ; ;</p>



<p>I can understand preserving and creating a mortuary monument for a guy like President Lincoln – who incidentally was one of the earliest corpuses to be embalmed in America. ; It was necessitated by his body being on display for 14 days as it traveled the country before being laid to rest in Springfield, Illinois. ; It could be argued that Lincoln launched the current craze of preserving the body in America – although the Egyptians were famous for the mummification method of preservation several millennia prior. ;</p>



<p>But do we really need to preserve the local hairdresser or auto mechanic – or even folks who write commentaries – for far beyond the time there are any family members left to visit the gravesites?</p>



<p>If there is anything natural about nature, is that human remains should be recycled. ; The nutrients in our bodies is a feast for supply-chain fauna and flora that we humans will later consume in the form of a Big Mac or a slice of watermelon.</p>



<p>There has always been a segment of the populace to advocate for “natural burial” – no casket, no sarcophagus, not even a linen cloth. ; Bury the bodies <em>au natural</em> has many benefits &#8212; and there is more than one way to do that.</p>



<p><em>Discovery</em> magazine covered several of them – many of which I would not recommend. ; In Africa and outside of Katmandu in Nepal, there are cultures that believe in consuming the flesh ritualistically. ; Yes, cannibalism.</p>



<p>Air burials are the custom of such places as the Tibetan regions of China. ; The corpses are disrobed and placed on the ground to be consumed by vultures, wild dogs and any other creature looking for a meal. ;</p>



<p>In India, the bereaved watch their beloved being consumed by fire – whereupon the ashes and skeletal remains are dumped into the river. ; Other cultures simply throw the body in certain areas of a river. ; It is said that they do not eat the fish from the river. ; Good thinking.</p>



<p>Just so you do not think that our modern burial customs are the only threat to the future of the planet. Burning bodies – ashes to ashes, as the religious ritual tells us – is not a good way to replenish the earth. ; Actually, we did not start life from ashes … or dust for that matter.  ; Cremation destroys much of the body’s nutrient value – and then there is all that smoke, hot air and Carbon emission. ; In America, it is even worse. ; We use lots of fossil fuel to bring the nutrient-rich human body to biblical ashes.</p>



<p>Space technology has given us another way to preserve the body while providing no particular benefit to humanity. ; The proposed idea is to launch the bodies into outer space. Imagine the carbon footprint on that option.</p>



<p>Fortunately, the natural cycle has been given a boost from technology and innovation. ; <em>Discover</em> also reported on efforts to turn the human body into compost. ; Yep! Fertilizer. ; That is actually what the dead body is supposed to be in nature … fertilizer. ; It is just that we humans have sidetracked the process with arrogant beliefs in a sort of memorialized immortality. ;</p>



<p>Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, of Washington State University, has proven the benefits of composting cow bodies to return much-needed nutrients to farm soil. ; Picking up on the idea, Katrina Spade’s company, Recompose, has designed honeycomb-style pods (pictured above)v in which human remains are decomposing in a dignified park-like setting.</p>



<p>The human body is a motherlode of essential nutrients. ; In addition to carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, we are depositories of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur and calcium – all essential building blocks for life. ; Instead of making them the inheritance for future generations, we lock them up forever in a vault.</p>



<p>This would be one climate change crusade I could get into. ; I have been a critic of our ceremonial burial customs since I was a teenager. ; It was when a family member had passed, and the local mortician offered a splendiferous metal casket in which the dearly departed would be enclosed in a waterproof, bug-proof cement sarcophagus. ; He proudly guaranteed that the body would be “preserved” for more than 100 years.</p>



<p>Having been to scores of funerals in my life, I never attended one that made sense or seemed necessary. ; And I am a person who puts beliefs into practice. ; When I cross the bridge to the great perhaps, there will be no funeral &#8212; no gathering of mourners. ; The book of those who loved me or hated me is closed. ; No amount of prayer can influence God’s judgment – if there be such a judgmental God. ; Consequently, my body will be picked up by a service that may get me into medical school – after which my remains will be returned to the earth. ; I suppose I could wind up in one of those places where they allow bodies to naturally decompose for research purposes. ; ;</p>



<p>And what about that climate change issue. ; A typical American burial can result in a 350 kg of CO2 footprint. ; A compost burial is a <strong>negative</strong> 864 kg CO2. ; Take that 486 kg difference and multiply it by all the folks on earth. ; The potential is phenomenal.</p>



<p>If people really want immortality, this is the way to go. ; My nutrients may one day be living in another human being. ; And just think of all the flowers that will not have to be picked in the prime of their lives. ; Maybe one of them will be me.</p>



<p>Next time all the smarty-pants climate-change enthusiasts gather, I hope they will put this on the agenda.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

Death and global warming
