- You're not human anymore.
At the end of this process - at the end of the process,
you cease to be human. - The climate crisis at
some fundamental level is a soil crisis. - fully embracing myself
as organic matter. - Just something To rot and decay. (happy music plays) (suspenseful music begins) - So you're probably
wondering how I got here moments away from having
my dead body composted. Honestly, I blame my
friend, Katrina spade. We need to go back to 2011. When Katrina was working on
her master's of architecture, her thesis was on how
we handle dead bodies in crowded, urban areas. since conventional
burials and even cremation carry pretty high environmental costs. Green burial, where the body
is put directly into the soil and a simple shroud was the ideal solution and has the added bonus of being what many cultures
have done with their dead for tens of thousands of years. But land is at a premium in highly populated areas. When was the last time you saw a target or a Walmart or a skyscraper torn down to reclaim the land
as a green burial cemetery? A girl can only dream. This was when Katrina learned that farmers had been composting livestock for decades. That's right! Composting like that sweet soil generating
pile in your backyard, but breaking down a dead human body. A revolution was born. By 2015 The first donor bodies were being composted in prototype studies at the department of
forensic anthropology at Western Carolina university. Here's me carrying wood
chips up to the compost pile. I am a bit of a whiner, sue me. I documented this early part
of the process in my book From Here To Eternity today, 10 years and many prototypes
and legalization attempts Later here we are visiting the facility just south of Seattle, Washington. Katrina! - (Katrina) Kit Kat! - You did it! - (Katrina) TA DAAA! AHH! Do you even believe it? - I, you know, I can cause you are. You're an intense person and your dogged and you weren't going to let it fail. - (Katrina) Persistence you might say. - Here's something we've been
talking about since the very beginning. the criticism. I don't
know if it's a criticism, but the pushback saying, why do you need to create
a facility like this short you can just naturally bury. - Oh yeah. - And you always said, this is not a replacement
for natural burial. It's a replacement for cremation. It's a replacement for what's
happening in heavily populated areas. - That's totally accurate. Well, as you well know, cremation is more than 50% of
people in the U S right now. Right? And skyrocketing. It's the default. It's less expensive. It's more available. It's a big one. And it feels like it might be
more ecologically friendly. But what if instead of
cremation being the default human composting with the default? - that's the world liberals want. - That's exactly right. - You've always seen, recomposes a combination of ritual in science and technology. - Sometimes that
dichotomy is a lot of fun. Like this is like a spaceship, but also it's like the forest floor. So I get really kind of
nerded out about that. - It's like the forest floor in space. - In a spaceship! - Think about it, bro. - Whoa! - we're going to start with
the ritual aspect of it, which is the laying in ceremony. - Now we've thought about having
a dead body made of pillows to show this example, but why use pillows when we can use me? - So this has always been
inspired by two things, natural burial and home funerals, right? And natural burial and
home funerals are all about participating. How do you get the family to
be as close to the process as they want to be? And sometimes they might not
even know they want until, - then you'll force them into, you know, - No you've never forced them into it. - Oh no yeah you don't do that. - No, never. But what we want to do is set
up the opportunities as much as possible for that extra participation. And so what we've done thus
far recomposed is make the sort of practical piece of it. The body is out here and it
needs to go into the vessel. How can we make sure we mark
that moment and turn that moment into a ritual. - At the Laying in
ceremony, they play music the person loved. Everything from the grateful dead to Nina Simone, smokey Robinson to Celine Dion. One decedent had all the
staff wearing their gotheist band t-shirts and built a
playlist of all his favorite music, joy division, VNV nation,
nine inch nails, new order, a man after my own dark heart. A slideshow was projected
including moments from the German Gothic music festivals.
That meant so much to him. How's that for a truly
modern American funeral? families often bring clippings
from their own garden and are fascinated by the process itself. This melding of science and spirituality that's happening here. There is an emerging ritual
combining the physical action of laying on the wood chips and
plants with the knowledge that the body is taking a new
place in the carbon cycle. - We've heard from
families that they really were surprised at how comforted
they felt by this action, which I think is beautiful. What our services team does this They talk about where
the plants came from, how they fit into the carbon cycle. - Anytime you'd like to say
some nice things about me. I know I overused the death
ASAMR reference a lot, but getting delicate wood chips
and plants placed over you over organic cotton.
Shroud is very relaxing. I think this is nice too, cause this is the closest to
how I actually want to go out. Just surrounded by, by nature. And my body allowed to
gloriously decompose. Once the whole family has
been able to have this lovely ritual around the person, the person is loaded into
one of these vessels. And that's when the journey really begins. - Yeah, for sure. Microbes break the body and the
plant material down in about a month. - and they spend a month in here? They spent one month in
his hotel for the dead. That's what I like to think of it. - It kinda looks like a Japanese
capsule hotel a little bit. - I mean, here's the thing. I
just, as an inside, Kaitlin, I don't know how many people
are afraid that they might be buried alive or cremated alive? - (narrator) They think
he's dead, and buried they're only half right. - But we can a hundred percent take care of that fear for you because if you were loaded
into one of these vessels, number one, well, you know, you're cocooned in wood chips and straw, and what's happening inside that vessel is purely air is being pumped through. So you're actually like
probably pretty warm, cozy, comfortable, and got
plenty of air to breathe. And if you woke up, you could just knock on one of
these and I can promise you, our staff would open the door
real quick and get you out. - Well It's like it really does separate the men from the
boys the living and the dead. Because if you are alive,
you're living person with some air and a bed of wood chips. If you're dead, you
decompose and turn into soil. And those are sort of your only 2 options. - So true. So right now, as we speak,
we have those microbes on us. They're in the wood
chips, they're in the air. And so you're absolutely right. The only thing that
makes that process start is the fact of the dead. That's really cool. - Let's take you through
the magical mystery trip that is being composted after you die. It's worth mentioning that the individual capsule
pods that you see here you see here are a far cry from the central core That
was Katrina's original idea. One giant multi-story compost pile. You'd slowly moved down
over several weeks. After the laying in, the body is surrounded with
wood chips alfalfa and straw and placed into the vessel and covered with more plant material. for 30 days the body and plant material get cozy in the vessel, letting those hungry microbes get to work, breaking down the organic matter. As the body transforms into soil, it changes on a molecular level pathogens, pharmaceuticals,
chemotherapy drugs are all neutralized in the process reduced to well below what
the EPA considers safe levels. After the 30 days are up about
one cubic yard of nutrient dense soil comes forth from the vessel. The composting process
breaks down most bones, but if there are fragments
remaining larger than one centimeter, they are
processed in a Cremulator. Commonly used after cremations. The recomposed operators also
screened for non-organic items in the body like hip implants. And if any are found they're recycled. the soil is then allowed to
cure before it can be used in gardens, forests, or conservation land, pretty much anywhere that could
use some rich, yummy soil. Sometimes mushrooms even grow
from the soil at this stage, - (music) Ground with
good things that help make new trees grow. - I will say that when I was, when I was younger and as
we're starting this work, I thought, oh my gosh, human compost is going to be the best. It's going to be way better
than any other compost and our soil scientist. Dr.
Carpenter Boggs was like "No, it's actually, it's
pretty good. It's good compost. But there's nothing special
about it just because it's human." And I was like, what?! That's not be amazing. - That's actually really funny. Cause it touches on so much. Even in the one body disposition
option where we're like, I am nothing. Let me decompose. Let me go back to the
land. We're still like, - But humans are very special. - Like we'll be the
absolute 100% best compost. And then the scientist is like, actually your organic material.
There's no better than, I don't know what making you German? - When you put the body into the vessel, suddenly it begins its transformation. And that is mind blowing. Really. When you think about you're
going to cease to be human and become soil instead. - because you really are.
You're not human anymore at the end of this process, - At the end of the process,
you cease to be human. Eventually you just let
go of that humanness, which is pretty intense. - (cartoon singing) decay - (all) yay! That was great! - Now we're going to jump ahead. You're going to take us into the back and show us a little
bit of the testing area and the final product. - Yeah. (upbeat music) - Couple of things happen after
folks have been through the Cure ban. After they've
been through the vessel. At that point, we need
to do testing of the soil and make sure that it
meets the requirements set by the state of Washington. - Did the state of Washington
decide on the specifications? Like how do they even know
what they were looking for? - Very good question. Luckily, there's been decades of work
by compost experts to say, what makes safe compost. - They'd be able to tell you like, Hey, there's a little too
much human in you all compost. - I don't know that their
pinkies would go up, but maybe. - They're drinking
evil, evil regulatory T. - (narrator) Recomposed test the soil for fecal coliform, arsenic,
cadmium lead, mercury selenium, ensuring the soil is safe. - After the process is over And you have these essentially
hundreds of pounds of soil. How many families want
to take it all home? And how many families are like Hey, we want to take a small amount home and then donate the rest? - Right now. We're at about 50 50. So 50% of our families come
here with a trailer or a truck. And we put that cubic yard of soil, which is several hundred
pounds into that truck. And off they go, - I'm just trying to imagine
showing up with my truck and picking up an entire truck bed of my mom. - I mean, that's the really cool thing. I, think our early clients are really like doing this with us. Like they're creating this with
us and they're saying like, yeah, we, okay, that's new. Like, but like we're going to do it. And so I just think there's a kind of a bravery actually of the,
of the actual people who are joining with us to
do this in the early side of things. - in the legalization
process there's really only been two groups that
have come out against it. The Catholics and the funeral director - cool. Yeah. - Actually, let's talk legalization because though it's not
exactly the most thrilling. It's one of the most important
parts of the whole project - but I wonder who that sad
little scrap of paper is? - The most states in the U S there are limited options
for what happens to your body after you die, Burial, cremation, donation to science. Some states have a third option
called alkaline hydrolysis. Or aquamation. Washington, bless their
hearts was the first state to legalize natural organic
reduction in 2019. Then in 2021 Oregon and Colorado
legalized human composting. In California, Recomposed
and our organization The order of the Good Death
have been working with an assembly member for 2 years
on legalizing the process. - I hope they decide to
report on me, favorably, otherwise I may die. - While Passing a new
law may sound glamorous. in a pandemic It's a lot of waiting
around on a conference line for hours only to have tech issues, maybe get in the way of your testimony. - (woman on phone) Hi
this is Caitlin Doughty I think that I was going to
speak first if that's okay? - Oh! OK, nope. - But we persevered and
are so pleased to announce - (bill) it's not easy
to become lie is it? - (bill) no! - So we just found out that the
bill to legalize the process in California has been
shelved for the year. - We were a hundred percent
sure it was gonna pass - a hundred. What's more with
higher than a hundred, 110%? - The top. - We were 100% sure. - And sure. I mean, maybe we're too deep in this that we cannot see the forest for the human composted supported trees. But I, it was, it was so
bi-partisan in its support. - We had no question. Hundreds of letters, calls in everywhere. There was no question that that was something the
community wanted in California. - It's frustrating. - It's really frustrating. Over
the years people have said, yeah, Katrina human composting. That's a great idea, but you
know, it's not legal anywhere. - I told you that. - you told me that. And so the hardest thing that
you're going to face is trying to legalize this, this
human disposition option that doesn't exist yet. And so I thought they might be right. That does sound rather complicated. But to be honest, like policy change has gone pretty well so far. And part of the reason is because in Washington, in Oregon and in Colorado, all of where is processes is now legal we've seen this broad bipartisan support. You find farmers are as
excited about it as Seattleite environmentalist. And so, again, just as
another reason I thought California was going to pass
this year. It was our year. And so it's extra disappointing
because I think I was on a little bit of like a, yeah, we got this, this isn't the hardest thing - dominoes knock them down. - Well, and that's the trick is that we won't really ever know
why it didn't pass this year. - And I have some theories - only Kaitlin will know
why it didn't pass this year - with governor Gavin Newsome
facing a September 14th recall election fellow Democrats
in the legislature appeared to protect him from having to sign or veto some
controversial measures. He will not have to decide
whether California should legalize mushrooms, ecstasy,
and other psychedelic drugs, nor will he have to weigh in
on the ethical debate over turning people into garden
compost after they die. - That's a problem right there because what's the ethical debate? - We ought to come back next
year and we have to make it completely undeniable. - Undeniable. - more letters than they've ever seen. - It's going to be a circus, - make them look me in the eyes and not vote this bill through. In the eyes what presented
them and so and so. I wanna be composted. - So, yeah. it's not easy to legalize
a new death care option. First, California shelved
the bill because of COVID. And then the next year
they shelved it to not seem too weird. (sighs) bills in New York and Hawaii
have been killed due to disagreements and pushback from
conventional funeral homes. In Hawaii's case,
natural organic reduction Now can't be performed until July 1st, 2050, 2050. - (cartoon) Gee bill, you certainly have a lot of patience and courage. - (Bill) Well I got this far. - If this frustrates you talk to your friends and
family about why this matters. And when it comes up as a bill
in your state call or write your legislators to let
them know you support consumers, having more
choices for their end of life. (music) I know Ill be a law someday. - If my mother came here and
she was naturally organically reduced, and I had a little
box garden in my yard, but could not take a
truck load of her home, you would give me something like this. - Absolutely. We kind of assume most people are going
to want a little bit. And so this is a half
gallon of a person soil. The bones have broken down.
The flesh is broken down and the DNA has even
broken down. At this point. - There is a cycle here in the Pacific Northwest
nutrients in the soil allow trees to grow very fast and very big when they die and fall,
their elegant tree carcasses produce more organic
material and nutrients enriching the soil and allowing more big, tall trees to grow. But here at Bell's mountain, after over a century of
continual clear cutting and no restoration, the soil was depleted. If only there was some kind of nutrient dense soil to repair the land. do you see where this is going? This is Elliot Rasnick the
director of the nonprofit here. So this is it! - ( Elliot) This is it. This is almost all of the soil
that has been brought here. We've welcomed 28 people onto site. - When you arrive with the
family here at the pile. Like you arrived with me
today. What is their reaction? - It's been extraordinary.
One of the times, a woman leapt out of the cart screaming her loved one's name joyously leaping over and, rushing
into, into touch the pile. which typically it takes a
little prodding for someone to want to touch the soil. - Really? I just came, stuck
my hand right in. Didn't I? I know why we're here and I know what makes it special compost. but I think it really takes having this be your loved one's compost to fuel the kind of intimate, almost
spiritual connection to it because you know, another reason it's something that's
just occurring to me now is that I've spent so much
time around cremated remains or green burial graves. And I do so associate that with people, but my brain is not yet able
to see this as 28 people. - ( Elliot) Yeah. - And in some ways that makes sense. Cause it's not really them. It's been so biologically changed that it's not them anymore. but the same could be
said for cremated remains. So it's almost like we just
need more time to understand this as a Memorial. - Well, I think in the name itself is, is some of that. in the sense that they
accidentally arrived at this name of KNORR - Natural organic reduction. - natural organic reduction,
and neither human nor inhuman, neither purely spiritual
nor purely material. And I think the way that we
handle the deliveries and the way that we'll continue
to handle the material really reveals some of that profundity. ( soft light music plays) - This Creek behind us is a
huge part of what the natural organic reduction is ultimately
going to be used for. - that's right. We're standing roughly in the middle of the first restoration
project that we know of to be using soil made from
people to supercharge its impact. - I like that we know of,
like they're all sorts of like human soil secrets.
Conservation projects going on across the world,
but it shan't be spoken of. We may have to lay this
out for folks a little bit, but tell me why salmon
needs such cool water other than their divas. - That's right. Salmon,
the divas of the Northwest. - Yeah. - So salmon face so many threats, but one of the most significant
threats that salmon face is that they only spawn in cold water. And so as the planet increasingly warms cold water for salmon to spawn
is increasingly threatened. - With this restoration
project, you are trying to get rid of invasive
species along the stream and replace it with native
species that will shade it. How are you doing that? - That's right. So the plan here will
be removing Blackberry. It's about a 27 acre
project. That's right. - Blackberry! - That's right! So of course,
Blackberry is only the second significant European invader
to threaten this land. And really only came here
because of the first significant near. - Who's that is that
shade to white people? That's like white people and
blackberries the two greatest threats to this land. - That's right. - Makes sense. - So the first European
descended invaders who came here cleared all this land. And so there aren't the species
diverse age, diverse shade that will last for a long time - that the salmon require. - That the salmon require. - So you're clearing it
out, planting conifers that are supercharged by the compost. - That's exactly right. - So with your dead body, you
were supercharging conifers to provide a canopy for
salmon to come fully breed in cool water. That's so romantic. - isn't it? - I love it. Cause everybody,
I think that we kind of get stuck on the idea of
I'm going to be a tree, which they are quite literally, they're going to boost up a conifer, but it's so much more than that. - That's right. And I think part of the incredible
genius of what recomposes up to is that it's not your body
isn't in one particular place. Right? We saw the pile of soil co-mingled
of, of many, many people. So you're not a tree, you're a forest. - Whoa. Okay. Yeah. I love that. That should be on their website. " your not a tree your a forest!" - (soft music plays) It's incredibly oppressively hot today, although it's nice here in the shade, but it's supposed to
get up to 108 degrees. We say all the time. Sure. No death care option, no green death care option
can solve climate change. But mentally I think there's
something that happens when you choose this. - My sense is that the climate
crisis at some fundamental level is a soil crisis. There isn't the soil on this
planet right now to hold the carbon that plants can sequester. And so the possibility of
a transformation of our relationship with biomass that, and, and the scariest biomass to
think about using for life is our own bodies. And if we can change the way
we think about how we use this biomass, if we can honor
the end of this biomass as, necessarily something to be used for, good to build up the soil, then I think we do stand a
chance to at some level mitigate what's coming. - I think about that all the time. I think my main transition to
being more comfortable with death was fully embracing
myself is organic matter. It's just something to rot
and decay and that it is the absolute least that we can do as humans. to give ourselves back to the land that we have just repetitiously
, obviously taken from our entire lives. - Thank you. So in the very last, the
delivery, the fourth delivery, one of the folks who was helping
to unload the soil from the dump truck, it's a meticulous process, making sure that every little
bit of KNORR gets out of the dump truck, all the nooks and crannies. And as we finished getting
all of the soil out, we saw in the corner of our eyes, his eight year old daughter
was dancing and playing, doing cartwheels in the
soil. And we all thought, are we supposed to think this isn't right? But it was so right. And as
she was dancing and playing, doing cartwheels, we heard her chanting
"it's life and it's death! it's life and it's death!
it's life and it's death! it's life and it's death!" - Well, I'm tearing up
just thinking about that, because think of what our
culture does to that little girl, think about the messages
that it gives her, that, that kind of relationship and
celebration of life and death is taboo or unacceptable. How dare we tell that to that little girl, we should all be cartwheeling
through the compost. - Thank you. We should all be cartwheeling
through the compost. - ( Soft music plays) - ( soft music continues) - We are pleased to announce
the months long redesign of The Order of the Good Death. If you're interested in green
death options and technology, our work to legalize these
options and how you might get involved, visit us
@orderofthegooddeath.com. And thank you as always to
the patrons who make all this work possible. Hey. - (outtakes) Hey guys, come on. Back on my bullshit Hey! This is us talking. I'm always about leaning on counters. Welcome to advice from Katrina - Its not ice cream. This was very accurate. What's happening right
now is extremely accurate. And then I lay my head
upon the corpus's chest. - because your secrecy has very sort of bizarre wellness retreat, - those socks are freaking me
out. I just want you to know. - I was like, really? I believe it. That sounds like the law can
be even more aggressively useful for the environment
than a natural burial. - aggressively useful That's so beautiful. - Yeah. - I love it. - I just roll past the
gardens and fling human soil. - Aggressively Useful compost. Just do it. Just do it. Just get it done. Just to put yeah, just type
you type to make a new thing. I come on, get with it. You just live in perpetual
dappled sunshine. At the end of the day,
you have to ask yourself, what is plants? Compost forest, beautiful
restoration forest, compost. - That's exactly right. - We got it. - Chop Chop - I think that's good. - Yes!
I'm doing this when I die and my loved ones are directed to use part of the compost to plant my favorite type of tree with it, the rest goes to the forest which is my favorite place to be.
This is fascinating, thanks for sharing! Always thought I would go for cremation but I really hope this is legal in my state by the time I die. Mom is an avid gardener so I'm sure she'll go for it too!
As you should be. It’s the best for the earth, and truly honors the person.
Is it just me or does the map for legalization of human compost look a lot like the map for legalization of marijuana? Can't blame people for wanting to smoke their relatives.
I wonder how difficult it would be to isolate each body so that you can be guaranteed that you're getting soil from your loved ones and not anyone else's.
Is it OK to pee on them?
I guess, if I can't just have my body lobbed over a cliff for the decomposers, this will be an acceptable second choice.
Become the pile
I love her videos!
I mean... You're definitely composting after you die, I don't think there's any way around it really.