How to Become a Tree

We’ve recommended notable stories on eco-friendly death in recent years. For Aeon, Hannah Gould and Georgina Robinson explore emerging practices within the green death care movement—from woodland burial to natural organic reduction to alkaline hydrolysis. While the idea of a gentler return to the earth is desirable to some people, Gould and Robinson argue that the environmental claims from companies in this nascent industry need deeper examination. They ask: “Can we truly hope to die green? Or is it all just greenwashing?”

This research shows how complicated it can be to declare one body-disposal method the ‘greenest’. A method might perform well in one category (such as carbon emissions) but poorly in another (such as water consumption). It might perform well in one location but not another. And there can be hidden environmental impacts built into a specific technology’s supply chain or its real-world application. For example, it’s hard to determine the emissions associated with growing the necessary alfalfa, straw or other organic matter used for human composting in NOR. Even alkaline hydrolysis, typically identified as the most ecologically friendly method, has uncertainties: researchers rarely consider the emissions involved in transporting the deceased to a facility that offers this form of burial. In most cases, a crematorium or cemetery will likely be much closer.