wooE can all agree that humans need to reduce their impact on the environment. And while most of us think of it in terms of daily activities—such as eating less meat, or being on the water side—this responsibility actually extends beyond life and into death.
global population is closing in eight billionand the amount of land available for human burial is running outEspecially in small and densely populated countries.
To reduce the environmental impact, the human body should return to nature as soon as possible. But the rate of decay is very slow in some of the most common conventional disposal methods. it can take many centuries To disintegrate a body.
In a unique study of its kind, our team analyzed 408 Human Body From grave pits and stone tombs in the north of Italy to find out what conditions help speed up decay.
environmental costs of traditional funerals
Funeral rituals should honor the dead, close families and promote life after death according to people’s beliefs. It looks different for different people. Although the Catholic Church permits cremation since 1963, it still prefers burial. Muslims should always be buried, whereas most Hindus are cremated.
In Australia, however, the latest census showed that around 40% of the population identify as “not religiousThis opens up more avenues for how people’s bodies can be handled after death.
Most traditional burial practices in industrialized countries have many long-lasting harmful influence on the environment. In coffins and coffins pieces of wood and metal are left in the ground, allowing harmful chemicals to leak through paints, preservatives and alloys. The chemicals used for embalming also remain in the ground and can be contaminated Soil and waterways.
cremation is also a big carbon footprint, It requires a lot of trees for fuel and produces millions of tons of carbon dioxide as well as toxic volatile compounds every year.
There are many alternatives to traditional burial. These include “water cremation” or “resurrection” (where the body is rapidly dissolved), human Fertilizermummification, cryonics (freezing and storage), space funeraland even transform the body into tree or in ashes diamonds either Record Vinyl,
However, many of these options are either illegal, unavailable, expensive or do not conform to people’s beliefs. The vast majority choose coffin burial, and all countries accept this method. So the question of durable burial comes down to choosing between several types. coffin available,
What leads to rapid decomposition?
Coffins range from traditional wooden coffins to cardboard coffins, to natural coffins made from willow, banana leaves or bamboo, which decompose rapidly.
The most environmentally sustainable option is one that allows the body to quickly decompose and reduce to a skeleton (or “skeleton”)—possibly within a few years.
Our research has presented three major findings on conditions that promote the skeletonization of the human body.
First, it has confirmed that it can take more than 40 years to skeletonize bodies in traditionally sealed tombs (where a coffin is placed inside a stone space).
In these sealed tombs, bacteria rapidly consume oxygen in the stone space where the coffin is placed. This creates a microenvironment that promotes almost indefinite protection of the body.
We found that burial grounds with a high percentage of sand and gravel in the soil promote decomposition and skeletonization of the body in less than ten years—even if they are in a coffin.
This is because this soil structure allows for greater circulation of air and micro-organisms and adequate drainage – all of which are helpful in reducing organic matter.
Finally, our research confirmed previous suspicions about the slow decomposition of entangled bodies. We discovered that placing bodies inside stone tombs, or covering them with a slab of stone on the ground, helps in the formation of corpse wax (or “fat,
This substance is the end result of a number of chemical reactions through which the body’s adipose (fat) tissue turns into a “soapy” substance that is very resistant to further degradation. Waxing the corpse slows (if not completely stops) the decomposition process.
A New, Green Option
In the quest for innovative burial solutions, we had the opportunity to experiment with a new type of body disposal in a tomb, called “aerated mausoleum,
Aerated tombs have been developed in some European countries, including France, Spain and Italy, over the past 20 years (where they passed Gone commercialization) they allow for a lot of ventilation, which in turn enables a much cleaner and faster decomposition of bodies than in traditional graves.
Some of their notable features are:
- An activated carbon filter purifies the gases
- The liquids are absorbed by two different biodegrading organic powders, one placed at the bottom of the coffin and the other in a collecting tray beneath it.
- Once the body is decomposed, the skeletal remains can be moved to an ossuary (a site where skeletal remains are stored), while the tomb can be dismantled and most of its components removed. could potentially be recycled.
Aerated tombs are also cheaper than normal tombs and can be built from existing tombs. They will be easy to use in Australia and comply with public health and hygiene standards.
Most of us don’t spend much time thinking about what will happen to our bodies after we die. Maybe we should. In the end it may be one of our most important final decisions – the implications of which extend to our precious planet.
Paola MagnisSenior Lecturer in Forensic Science, Murdoch University And Edda GuareschiAssistant Lecturer in Forensic Science, Murdoch University
This article is republished from Conversation Under Creative Commons license. read the original article,
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