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Human Composting, a New End-of-Life Choice, Turns Bodies Into Soil: 'Rejoin the Natural Cycle'
People / MSN ^ | June 17, 2021 | Eileen Finan

Posted on 06/17/2021 1:02:50 PM PDT by Marchmain

At the age of 50, Nina Schoen expects to have a long life ahead of her, but the Seattle-based project manager has thought a lot about death - and why people are so reluctant to talk about it: "It's going to happen to all of us," she says, "but it should be a more positive experience than the fear we infuse into it."

When she first heard about a new end-of life process that turns the body into compost, "I was really moved by the idea. It just felt right," says Schoen, who became one of the first to reserve a spot with a Seattle-based company called Recompose, the country's first funeral home to offer human composting.

"I love the idea of helping other life," says Schoen. "Is it a tree? A flower? Whatever - go thrive. I'll have had my turn. After my death, it's their turn."

Last year Recompose began transforming bodies to soil, after Washington became the first state to legalize the practice of human composting, more formally known as natural organic reduction. Before that, end-of-life options in the U.S. were limited to burial or cremation, both of which come with environmental costs - U.S. cremations alone dump 1.7 billion pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year.

This spring, Colorado and Oregon have followed suit with laws legalizing composting human remains, and bills look likely to pass later this year in New York and California. Pioneering the composting movement is Recompose founder Katrina Spade, who has spent a decade developing the process and who is leading the push to legalize it in hopes of offering people a greener option for death care.

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: compost; death; soylent
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Isn't this sacrilegious?
1 posted on 06/17/2021 1:02:50 PM PDT by Marchmain
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To: Marchmain

That’s a waste.

Why not soylent green?


2 posted on 06/17/2021 1:03:58 PM PDT by adorno
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To: adorno

All real environmentalists in those states need to go for it now.

This is a climate emergency.

Every minute they stay alive harms nature!


3 posted on 06/17/2021 1:07:59 PM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: Marchmain

It is sacrilegious. I’ve got a better idea: Liberal Crapifying. Turns liberal bodies into crap. Helps them to rejoin the natural crap from which they came.


4 posted on 06/17/2021 1:09:09 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: Marchmain

I would be fine with that procedure for myself.
In the unlikely event someone wants a physical object or setting to mark my existance, they could plant a tree, place a boulder, chose a beach, or randomly chose any place.

I would never try convincing someone to use this for their loved one if they’re uncomfortable with it for any reason. It’s simply not for them. That’s a very personal decision.


5 posted on 06/17/2021 1:11:54 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: Marchmain

I plan on being cremated, so I’ll produce some CO2. However, during photosynthesis, Nature will take my little CO2 contribution, blend in a little water (H2O), and produce a by-product called oxygen (O). Therefore, it seems to me that I’ll be providing a little bit of clean air and a little glucose because I’m created. All these twits who want a CO2-free world simply want to suffocate everyone.


6 posted on 06/17/2021 1:12:29 PM PDT by econjack
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To: Marchmain

I’m fine with it. Keep out of the cemeteries so the DemoRats can’t harvest their post mortem votes.


7 posted on 06/17/2021 1:12:54 PM PDT by tflabo (Truth or tyranny )
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To: Marchmain

Reminds me of a story about some Stepford-ish burb where if you were a rebellious kid too many times, they took you away in a van and you came back as mulch and your family planted a tree. Can’t remember the name.


8 posted on 06/17/2021 1:13:28 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: Marchmain

it should be a more positive experience than the fear we infuse into it.”

The “compost” is strong in this one...


9 posted on 06/17/2021 1:20:09 PM PDT by Adder ("Can you be more stupid?" is a question, not a challenge.)
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To: Marchmain

No more so than cremation, I should think.


10 posted on 06/17/2021 1:24:08 PM PDT by LIConFem (Bring a Commie to room temperature for Mommy)
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To: Marchmain

I dunno but it’s the way it works in nature. I want a Viking funeral.


11 posted on 06/17/2021 1:25:53 PM PDT by Sparky1776
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To: Marchmain

That’s why I’m being buried in a wood casket. Dust to dust and all.
My neighbor told his wife he wants to be embalmed. She scheduled an appointment for him next week!


12 posted on 06/17/2021 1:29:10 PM PDT by 9422WMR (45 1. Lie, cheat, steal. It’s how the democRATS operate. )
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To: Marchmain

Burying me in a fancy box: $7k and up
Composting me with woodchips: $5k and up
Burning me into ashes and then burning the ashes: $500 and up

Well, since I’m opting for the disposal of my shell based on economic concerns and not denying my faith, looks like cremation for me. I’ll let the urban liberals opt for paying for the privilege of being dirt.


13 posted on 06/17/2021 1:32:41 PM PDT by Retrofitted
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To: Marchmain

When you’re buried, unless you’re in a sealed concrete tomb, you are going to compost. It’s anaerobic composting but composting just the same.

I was a member of a homesteading forum and there was a guy who started a thread titled, Extreme Composting. Mostly just bulk composting of standard compost materials but he, like many farmers, had to deal with the occasional large dead animal like a cow or horse. He said that putting down a good layer of sawdust, laying the animal on it and then covering with a pile of more sawdust would break them down quick with no odor. (carbon + nitrogen)

Something to keep in mind as an alternative to SSS, shoot, shovel and shut up for those that have clay and/or rocky soil and access to plenty of sawdust. For those large mammals.


14 posted on 06/17/2021 1:33:02 PM PDT by Pollard
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To: tflabo

LOL. That’s a good one.


15 posted on 06/17/2021 1:33:05 PM PDT by Starboard
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To: Marchmain

As pagan as you can get.


16 posted on 06/17/2021 1:33:27 PM PDT by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc O'Morgair (Latin form: Malachy))
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To: Marchmain

Where’s your wife?

She’s in the garden.


17 posted on 06/17/2021 1:33:52 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Sparky1776

Some of the Vikings were buried with either their wife or a
“Love Slave” who volunteered for the honor.


18 posted on 06/17/2021 1:35:50 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: Marchmain

there are perfectly good and inexpensive unbleached cardboard caskets

if you choose one of these you will get naturally composted eventually.


19 posted on 06/17/2021 1:40:24 PM PDT by algore
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To: lee martell

Eternity is a long time to spend with some wives, lol.


20 posted on 06/17/2021 1:40:32 PM PDT by Sparky1776
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