Environmental activists in the United States believe that traditional burials and cremations cause great harm to the environment.
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Death is considered one of the costliest events in the life of every modern American, writes The Washington Post. Not everyone has family burials, and the average cost of a free space in a cemetery reaches 15 thousand dollars (more than 1 million rubles). According to the National Funeral Homes Association, more than half of Americans are already looking for new, cheaper ways to bury loved ones.
Representatives of the funeral business did not lose their heads and quickly responded to the demands of modern American society – they found not only cheaper, but also more environmentally friendly ways of burial.
“Modern funerals are one of the worst environmental pollutants,” said David Sloan, a professor at the University of Southern California. According to the non-profit Green Burial Council (GBC), 64,000 tons of steel and 1.6 million tons of concrete are used in cemeteries in the United States annually. And that’s not counting more than 4 million gallons of embalming fluid. Each cremation, during which bodies are burned with propane burners, generates greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to driving 800km by car. So what is, according to the Americans, a truly ecological burial in modern realities?
Composting
The composting of the human body or terrarium is a process of natural biological reduction of a person in a tank. As of January this year, only six states legalized the procedure and it has already gained great popularity among environmental activists. The end result is this: the human remains are placed in a warm steel container, into which water, mulch, and microorganisms that speed up decomposition are added. After about 45 days, the body of the deceased turns into nutrient soil with a size of just under a cubic meter. It is returned to relatives or purchased by the US federal government to restore forests after deforestation and fires.
ecological burials
Ecological or “green” burials are the second most popular new type of burial in the United States. The body is covered with a blanket or clothing of the deceased and placed in a biodegradable coffin made of wood, bamboo or cardboard. However, the embalming of the deceased and the installation of tombstones on the grave are prohibited. Major renovation departments involved in redeveloping former industrial estates in American cities offer similar options. They pay for the burial and use it for the recovery of industrial land.
cremation in the water
The first three are closed by cremation in water or aquamation: this is an alkaline hydrolysis process, which consists of immersing the body of the deceased in a hot alkaline acid vat. Soft tissues resorb within a few hours, while bones are separately ground into a fine powder. The result is a tea-colored liquid made up of a rich cocktail of salts, sugars and amino acids. The mix is also very popular with growers who buy it at funeral homes and use it as a nutritious fertilizer.
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