We’ve linked to the Urban Death Project story before, but those wanting to know more would glean much from this article. Katrina Spade is the visionary behind the Urban Death Project, a sort of green burial for those in urban areas. Bodies would be composted in urban decomposition chambers in a period of weeks or months after which their families could retrieve their remains in the form of nutrient rich soil.
Not only would it serve as a meaningful option of eco-friendly body disposition, but Spade is also researching the value that composted bodies, human and animal, could have in addressing the problem of degenerative soil caused by over-farming. Bodies are full of nutrients that could help replenish soil that is rapidly eroding due to aggressive agriculture and increased farming needs.
Of course, in a society that has enough trouble even admitting that death happens, it will be a long time before the general public feels comfortable talking about the dead in terms of their “nutritional value”, but for those who would like to “return to the earth” in the most literal sense, the Urban Death Project has an allure.
Read the full article at The Stranger.
