(uptempo, dramatic music) - Hello. Don't be alarmed, it's just me, a friend. We're here today to talk
about your future corpse. Now I know it's not the
easiest to contemplate, is it? If only we could avoid
this conversation somehow. If only the overall death rate wasn't holding at a solid
100%, that's everyone. All people. Future corpses.
(dramatic sting) Alas, there is no avoiding it. You will some day be a corpse, and all your friends and family will have to decide what to
do with you, corpsey-poo! What a gift is would be, if they knew what you
wanted for your body. What a way to ease the minds
of those given the sacred task of caring for you when you're dead. Let me help you start to
make that decision today. Learn about your options. Go in with your eyes wide open before they're forever closed. I don't know why I use that voice. Death isn't scary. (giggling) To begin I'll send you off
to my colleague Caitlin at your friendly neighborhood cemetery. A place of peace and reflection. Amidst the chaos of modern life full of snapchats and hashtags,
Beyonces and Buzzfeeds, the cemetery is one of
the remaining vestiges of American simplicity. Right? I mean, what could be simpler than putting a body in the earth? (bell dinging)
Right? But have you ever thought
about what really lies beneath that friendly
neighborhood cemetery? Corpses, obviously. Caskets, yes, maybe a few
errant dinosaur bones, no, for real. But is that it? When your time comes, will it
just be you and Ankylosaurus placidly turning to dust beneath the feet of your
grieving loved ones? Unfortunately, in today's
funeral industrial complex, the answer is no. If you choose to spend eternity here, Dust to Dust might be a
little more complicated. First there's your corpse. Caitlin, take it away. (wind howling)
(crows cawing) When you die, you're bound to develop the
nasty habit of decaying. So what will the funeral home do? Fill your circulatory
system and body cavity full of a carcinogenic cocktail
of preservative chemicals called Embalming Fluid. The formaldehyde in embalming fluid is considered to be in the top 10% of the Environmental Protection Agency's most hazardous and damaging chemicals. A known cancer causer, embalmers must wear full body protection when handling formaldehyde-based
embalming fluid. And we're putting that in you, and then putting you in the ground! Anything for that Forever Corpse! (dinging) To further protect an embalmed corpse, we put our dead inside a sealed casket. Modern caskets can be
made out of wood, metal, or a combination of both. Additionally, they're often
gasketed with a rubber seal to stop moisture from
penetrating the interior and touching the corpse. But wait there's more! You don't get the smooth, manicured look of a modern cemetery without some underground support. To keep the earth from
sinking around a grave, caskets are placed inside
burial vaults or grave liners, essentially a casket for a casket. I heard you like caskets, so I got a casket for your
casket for your casket. Usually made from concrete or metal, they can be lined with plastic or wood, allowing only the underside of the casket to come in contact with the earth. But caskets and vaults aren't the only thing we're
sinking into cemeteries. The average American funeral can cost between $9,000 to
$11,000, if not much more. That's hundreds of dollars for embalming and preparation of the body, thousands for a casket,
thousands for a vault, thousands for a burial plot, not to mention all the
extra fees that can add up, like the services provided
by a funeral home. While some people turn to
crowdfunding to pay for funerals, it's rare that such a site will raise enough money
in a short amount of time to pay for the funeral expenses. Even the popular
crowdfunding site, GoFundMe only raises an average
of approximately $2,000 for funeral or memorial campaigns. We have this cultural expectation that we need a fitting
and respectable burial for our loved one, and end up paying an exorbitant amount, up to $10,000 for a sealed casket alone, in hopes of ensuring the
departed's preservation. After doing right by their dead and spending beyond their means, many people fall into severe
debt or even bankruptcy. But this is what we've
been conditioned to do by our culture and the funeral industry, pay to avoid the reality of death. That is to say, "The more you pay, the less you decay!" Yay! We're obsessed with
putting extra resources into the ground with our dead, in the attempt to stop our bodies from doing what they do
best, (chuckles) decomposing. All the wood that goes
into making caskets, has to come from somewhere. In one year over four million
acres worth of forests go into creating caskets. That's like the size of New Jersey. (popping) Over 115 tons of steel
are also used for caskets, over two billion tons of concrete are used to make burial vaults, and more than 800,000
gallons of formaldehyde are put into these conventional
American cemeteries every year. That's 800,000 gallons
of a known carcinogen going into the ground. And for what? A bid for immortality? (dramatic sting) You can pump a corpse
full of formaldehyde, put it in an air-tight casket inside a burial vault lined with plastic, in the most pristine memorial
park in the western world, and it's still only a temporary solution, that body will decompose like a champ. So what's a corpse to do? What's the option for a person who lived an eco-conscious greener life to live a greener death? Can we really change the funeral industry? I'm glad you asked. Join me as we step out of
the traditional cemetery, and into the world of natural
burial and green death. Find out how simple it can actually be just to bury a body and let it decompose, but in a way less serial
killer way, (chuckles) than I just said it. At this point you might be asking, "Um, excuse me, like,
what about cremation? "Cremation doesn't require
caskets or embalming "and all that stuff. "Isn't cremation like,
the eco-way to do death?" Yes, and no. On the one hand direct cremation, or cremation done without
visitation or embalming, can cut back on a lot of the resources that a more conventional burial requires. When a corpse is ready to be cremated, they head directly to the crematory. A corpse can be cremated
in a wooden casket, with no metal parts, or in a simple cardboard container that typically costs under $100. Into the cremation machine they go, and once the process is complete, the cremated remains of the deceased are given to their loved ones
to do with as they please. A direct cremation typically
costs between $1000 and $2200. So yes, cremation does have
its eco-friendly perks. No embalming, no fancy
caskets, no vaults required. However, where there's a
crematory, there's fire, and where there's fire there's smoke. And in the case of a crematory, that smoke can contain a
lot of harmful substances. Among those substances are
carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, dioxin, as well as carcinogens
polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans. And in the case of corpses
with amalgam dental fillings, mercury vapor is dispersed into the air, where it eventually rains down
and can contaminate water. The chemical output of a cremation gets even worse if it's
not a direct cremation and the body has been embalmed. In that case we have our old friend
formaldehyde to contend with. Much like mercury, when formaldehyde is
incinerated and vaporized, it is suspended in our atmosphere until it bonds with water and rains back down upon the earth. And you know what they say,
"April showers bring cancer." (thunder booming)
(rain showering) And yes, measures can and should be taken to make cremation more
environmentally friendly. Many crematoriums now have
pollutant filtration systems that diminish, but don't eliminate, the chemicals that are
released into the air during a cremation. Some are even reusing the enormous amount of excess
energy used to cremate bodies, to heat houses or public
buildings, even a swimming pool. But as great as all of these efforts are, it's merely putting a bandaid on a process that's inherently flawed. Don't get me wrong, yes, cremation is a
significantly greener option than burying an embalmed
corpse in a vault, but could it be better? I think it can. Welcome (clicking) to Alkaline Hydrolysis. (reverberating tone)
(applauding) Alkaline hydrolysis? What's that? Some kind of corpse spa treatment? (upbeat, melodic sting) Well, kinda? If by spa treatment you mean process through
which water and lye accelerate the natural
decomposition of a corpse reducing it to soft bone fragments, then yeah, spa treatment. In alkaline hydrolysis,
sometimes called aquamation, water cremation, or flameless cremation, a corpse is placed inside a
pressurized steel container. Sometimes the corpse is
in a biodegradable shroud, but no casket is used. The chamber is then filled
with a mixture of 95% water, and 5% potassium hydroxide
or sodium hydroxide and heated to 365 degrees Fahrenheit. Over the course of two to three hours, the alkaline, pressured
and heated solution circulates around the corpse and mimics the chemical
decomposition process the body would undergo if buried, except alkaline hydrolysis
only takes a few hours instead of months or years. All the soft tissue is dissolved, leaving only bone fragments behind, up to 30% more bone fragments
than after a cremation. The leftover broth from the process, is an inert, neutralized mixture
of amino acids, peptides, sugars and salts that can
be repurposed as fertilizer or safely flushed into the sewage system. The resulting bones are pulverized and returned to the
dead person's loved ones to do with as they wish. According to the Funeral
Consumer's Alliance, when compared to flame cremation, alkaline hydrolysis uses 1/8 of the energy and leaves less than 1/4
of the carbon footprint, and releases no mercury
emissions from fillings. And speaking of emissions, since corpses and materials aren't being incinerated
at such high heats, between 1600 and 1800 degrees Fahrenheit in a typical cremation machine, there is a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas and
carbon dioxide emissions, and hazardous chemical emissions
are almost non-existent. But what about using all that water? The water used to reduce a body and then flush out an
alkaline hydrolysis machine is equivalent to less than
three days worth of water that the average living person uses. (children cheering) I think aquamation, water cremation, whatever you want to call it,
we need to decide on a name, is potentially the
future of body disposal. (tinkling bells)
Yeah! So why isn't everybody doing it? Why is it only approved in 14 states and three Canadian provinces? Why aren't there Corpse
Spas on every corner? Because the human body is not
garbage, but a gift from God! It is disrespectful to the human vessel to discard them in such a way! How could you do such
a thing to your mother? If you love her, you wouldn't dare. It is odd, disgusting, dehumanizing, and insensitive to the dead! (record scratching) Basically the arguments
against alkaline hydrolysis can be boiled down to, ha ha, boiled down, get it? What has been called, The Ick Factor. Opponents of alkaline hydrolysis
are troubled by the notion that grandma is turned into sludge and then flushed down the drain. It's Satan's errand!
(rapid squeaking) (can spraying)
(coughing) By the way all them fire
and brimstone fightin' words are pulled directly from arguments Americans had against cremation back in the late 19th
and early 20th century. Most of those arguments of disrespect or treating humans as waste are echoed in the current battle against alkaline hydrolysis. Except now, cremation is being defended
as respectful and proper. Oh America, you fickle beast! (sipping) But it's all about perception. Those who argue against
alkaline hydrolysis, like the Catholic Church, see flushing away the dead
as undignified and unnatural. Some see setting your mom's corpse on fire or putting her chemical soaked
body in an underground box as undignified. That's why we need lots of legal options, different strokes for
different dead folks, as my mom used to say. Not the dead part. Also, when your loved
one's corpse is embalmed, where do you think their bodily fluids go after being replaced with embalming fluid? (drain gurgling) Just like they did with cremation, I believe we can come around
to alkaline hydrolysis. It's a matter of being exposed to it. As writer Sarah Zhang said, "Alkaline hydrolysis could
certainly use an image makeover." (popping) It's been used in medical
schools for years, and used for livestock and pets. Let's visit Resting Waters, a pet aquamation facility in Seattle, to give you an in person
sense of how it's done. - I am Darcy. - I am Jocelyn. - And we own Resting Waters. We're a pet funeral home
based in Seattle, Washington. So aquamation is
essentially water cremation, so we rid the body of the soft tissue using water instead of flame like traditional
flame-based cremation does. After the aquamation process, we remove the bone remains from the tank and we then place them on a drying rack to dry naturally with just air. And after they are dry, which usually takes anywhere
from 24 to 72 hours, then they are processed in the same method that would be used for
flame-based cremation, using a cremulator, that becomes the white
take-home ash remains. - So I chose aquamation because I felt like it was the most suited for Seattle, Washington. We are a very green community, and yet there wasn't a
green option for disposition when it came to our pets, and knowing that so many
pet owners choose cremation, it gave them an alternative to that. - Aquamation is more eco-conscious
and eco-friendly to us than traditional flame-based cremation because we don't burn fossil fuels, we have low energy consumption, and when you put the water consumption into real world examples
it's actually quite low. So one cycle takes less water than an average family
of four uses in a day, and you can also say that per pet it takes less
water to aquamate them than it does to give them a bath. - One of the reasons why we created this space in the way we did, was because it gave families an option to come and see the body care facility in a way that didn't
feel frightening to them. Our equipment is really benign, and our space looks more
like a medical facility than it does a disposition center. We can have it look beautiful because we're not doing anything that otherwise isn't beautiful. - So as far as us doing this process, gives us a really unique insight into aquamation versus
traditional flame-based cremation, and it's just when it comes down to it, it seems as though it's
a much gentler, kinder, and family friendly process than going to a place
where there is the retort, the high heat, the dust,
all of those things, that's not the case when
it comes to aquamation. - So here in Washington
State, unfortunately, aquamation is not available
to our human families, only our pets, which seems really silly because we're here, and we're doing this
beautiful, green option, but only for our furry family
members, and not all of us, but shouldn't we all the same option? (gentle guitar music) - Instead of seeing alkaline hydrolysis as some bizarre science
experiment being done to our dead, maybe we could reframe
our collective brains to see it as a gentle,
eco-friendly solution to the environmental issues surrounding cremation and burial. Like philosopher and alternative
funeral advocate Phil Olson told the Atlantic, "Burning grandma in fire
seems to be violent. "In contrast, green cremation "is putting grandma in a warm bath." Is the system perfect? Of course not. But with the cost of alkaline hydrolysis being equivalent to, if not lower than some cremation services, it seems to be the next natural step in the evolution of death technology. Of course, if we're talking natural, you can't get much more
natural than natural burial. It's in the name. Slow your roll there, Mortician. Isn't all burial natural? Are you tryin' to hawk some gimmicky-new age-gluten
free-organic-vegan-woo woo funeral thingy in my woods? (record scratching) Okay, fine. Yes. Natural is a tricky word, and not the easiest to define. Humans have been naturally
burying their dead since dead bodies were invented, so somewhere between when that fish crawled out of the
primordial soup and Elvis. (lively, rhythmic sting) But what people in the west have come to accept as tradition in terms of burying our
dead in the last 150 years, is far from it. I mean, remember this?" (dramatic sting) Now, when we talk about
natural or green burial we're, at least I'm, talking about the simplest way to put a corpse in the earth
and let nature take its course, with little to no negative
environmental impact. What does that entail? Honestly, not that much. (bells dinging)
(clapping) An unembalmed corpse is either wrapped in
a biodegradable shroud made of something like unbleached
cotton or bamboo cloth, or placed inside a casket made of a biodegradable material
like seagrass or willow. Like this lovely lady. Next a shallow hole,
three to four feet deep and human sized is dug, no
burial vault required or wanted. Bonus, the dead person's loved
ones can help dig the hole, if they're into that sort of thing. The corpse is then placed in the earth and covered with dirt. Once buried, the corpse can
be feasted upon by bacteria, carrion beetles, maggots and the whole wild kingdom
living in that soil. Et voila, you've been naturally buried! Congrats! Your decay is imminent. But maybe you're saying,
"Big whoop, Caitlin. "Maybe that green buried corpse "will decay in the dirt
faster, but so what? "An embalmed corpse in a
steel casket and cement vault "will decay too, it'll just take longer. "Plus, isn't it unsafe to
have an unembalmed corpse "buried in such a shallow grave? "Without a sealed casket? "What about all the germs and diseases "that a corpse could leach into the ground "and water supply?" Shh, don't listen to them my precious. It'll be just you and me and the bacteria. Shh! In fact a study published in the Pan American
Journal of Public Health found that not only do pathogens survive for a very short amount of time in a dead body and in the soil around it, but the groundwater outside the cemetery was more contaminated by products associated with the burial
process than the actual corpse. Oh! What's more, the pathogens
present in a corpse buried in a shallower, natural grave, are killed off quickly and efficiently, leaving little to no
chance of contamination. Why is that? Because when a corpse is buried closer to the surface of the earth, in a shroud or biodegradable casket, it has access to oxygen flow. Oxygen allows bacteria to break
down the tissues of a body. And as bacteria gobbles up
that tissue it creates heat. In certain conditions,
a decomposing corpse can reach well over
100 degrees Fahrenheit. Even if a corpse doesn't
reach such high temperatures, the heat it does produce kills off most, if not all, pathogens that may
have been present at death. (groaning) But the most striking different between natural burial and
a more conventional burial is the impact on the environment. Whereas there are ways to try and make conventional
burial more green with things like
eco-friendly embalming fluid or earth-friendly caskets,
it's all an attempt to make an inherently destructive
practice a little better. However, with a natural burial, the practice is not only non-destructive, it's inherently beneficial
to the environment. Not to get all Circle of
Life, kumbaya, on you, but green burial is the ultimate way for a person to give back to the earth that supported them their entire life. You eat plants and animals in life, and in death they get a chance to eat you. Go get 'em! But wait, the benefits of green burial are multiplied in conservation burial. Conservation Burial! It's natural burial, with a kick! Yeah, we need to decide
how to market that one too. Listen, it's the wild west out here guys. (golf ball swooshing) You tryin' to hawk some gimmicky-new age-gluten
free-organic-vegan-woo woo? (ball impacts)
Ow! At a conservation burial ground, once you bury some bodies in the land, it can't be developed
or artificially altered. It's like chaining yourself
to a tree post-mortem. Through a conservation easement,
which is a legal agreement with a land trust or government agency that limits the use of the
land in order to protect it, a conservation burial ground in effect becomes hallowed ground, as Prairie Creek Conservation
Cemetery in Florida calls it. Only plants and trees that are indigenous to the
burial ground can be planted. In essence, conservation
burial puts your death to work. Your death makes nature
preservation possible. Guys? Who, (chains rattle) who has the key? Who has the key? But what does this all mean? Can alkaline hydrolysis and natural burial really replace cremation and more traditional, conventional burial? Yes, yes, yes! Not only can they be replaced,
they should be replaced. But how? Well deathlings, ask and ye shall receive, (melodic sting)
eventually. We're running a marathon
here, not a sprint. First, alkaline hydrolysis has to be approved and
legalized for human corpses in your state slash
province slash country. While many places use alkaline
hydrolysis for animals, a lot of people are squeamish
about using it for humans. If a bill to legalize alkaline hydrolysis comes up for a hearing, contact your representative and tell them, "Yes, give me my aquamation. "Give it to me now!" If other green death
technology, like recomposition, (coughs) body composting, (coughs) should ever come up for a vote, call and email about that to. That's what we did with alkaline hydrolysis in
California just this year, and it worked.
(train whistle blowing) Already, the Bradshaw Celebration of
Life Center in Minnesota, reports that given the choice between flame cremation
and green cremation, as they call it, 80% of their customers
choose green cremation. The only thing holding it back
seem to be public awareness, availability, and, you
know, the Catholic Church. It's Satan's errand.
(record scratching) Meanwhile natural burial,
legal in all 50 US states. While it's popularity is growing rapidly, the general corpse-burying public still doesn't seem to understand that natural burial is
safe and very doable. You hear things like, "Actually, it's against the
law not to embalm the body, "otherwise it's a public health risk. "Not to mention, a rotting
corpse is disgusting!" Okay, I want to be crystal clear on this, Embalming is not required
by law in America. There are rare circumstances
in a few states, like transporting a
corpse across state lines, where it may be required, but if you want to be buried
at a natural burial site, in just a shroud, you have
every right to do that. Do not, I repeat, do not, let
any funeral home convince you that embalming is a legal matter. The only thing you're required
to do, preservation-wise, is refrigerate a corpse if it has not been buried
within 24 to 48 hours, depending on state law. Psst, refrigerate can
just mean some ice packs. So the question remains. Remains, get it? (chuckles) I've been talking for a
long time here people. Why isn't everyone
choosing natural burial? Like alkaline hydrolysis, it's all about access and awareness. If you think that you might
want a natural burial, talk to your local funeral home. Ask them if they can
offer such arrangements. If they don't, why not? Would they consider it? The funeral industry is a business, and funeral homes have to keep up with what their customers want in order to stay relevant and in business. So if you want a natural burial, tell your local funeral director. Hi, I'd like to decompose, thanks. Or hey, if you're a real go-getter, and own a prime piece of
wild, undeveloped real estate, consider starting a natural
burial site of your own. It's a pretty long and
complicated process, but if you've got the land and the time, it's one of the best ways you can lead the green death revolution. The point is, the more people
who choose natural burial over traditional burial, and alkaline hydrolysis over cremation, the more people will learn that they have choices when
it comes to their death. Remember
(dramatic sting) you will die. It will happen. That choice has already been made for you. But by choosing a green death, alkaline hydrolysis, natural burial, or any any other green death advance that may become available, your death could have both an environmental
and cultural impact. Or lack of impact, which
is kind of the point. (lively, rockin' music) In order to protect it, a. Disgusting! Can contain a lot of harmful substances. Why is that? - Nothin', I knew that. - No alkaline electrolysis! Whoo! The chamber is then filled-- ♪ Bentham's Head ♪ (Caitlin laughs) - The chamber is then
filled with a mixture-- ♪ Bentham's Head ♪ (Caitlin laughs) Guys, the key?
Just put me in a cardboard box and into the ground. No chemicals or anything. Then plant a tree on my head, preferably a native.
This woman’s YouTube channel is a wealth of odd information, and a delight to watch.
To shreds, you say.
When I'm dead, just throw me in the trash.
-Frank Reynolds
I just want to be buried in such a way that it results in maximum confusion for future archeologists.
I honestly didn’t know embalming was a common thing.
Cremation, people, always choose cremation.
In a cardboard box.
Cheapest method possible. Less grief and stress on your family.
Make sure you tell your inheritors where you want your ashes to be spread and hope they follow through with your wishes.
But, even if they don't, who cares? You're still dead.
Are viking funerals legal?
...Bentham's head...