By ccodez
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23/04/2022

Let's not deal with funerals, but cemeteries. Returning to their spirituality can help nature and us

The practice of operating cemeteries has various forms in the world, but what they have in common is the atmosphere. They are places of silence, peace, contemplation. In fact, such reservations for past memories. And for nature as well. Photo | Chris Arthur-Collins / Unsplash The question of how to make a loved one's funeral more environmentally sustainable is probably of no practical significance at present. Funerals, given regional culture and faith, will simply not be greener anymore. But returning cemeteries to their former spirituality can have a major positive impact on the future of the environment. We know ads are annoying. And we respect that you have them turned off :-) We will be happy if you support us differently.

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We all have to go there, and once it comes, it will be better to do it fast. In the case of your own death, you will find (that is, rather your survivors) that even death is to some extent a luxury that you need to stand in line for. Every year, tens of millions of people leave the world for various reasons. Last year, 58.39 million, in 2050 it will be predicted to be 92.36 million.

And as a result, such a lively increase in those interested in a dignified funeral places considerable demands on global funeral systems. At the same time, surprisingly little has changed in the funeral procession since the Middle Paleolithic, so that despite hundreds of regional funeral variations, we still bury our loved ones in two main ways. Cremation by burying the remains in the ground or burning them.

Both currently dominant methods have their pros and cons. In cremation, it is necessary to pick up the speed of the whole process, which ends with partial or complete incineration of the deceased. An obvious disadvantage is the energy, expressed here in the volume of wood consumed at the funeral border (approximately 0.5 tons), and therefore gas (approximately 3.0 cubic meters), for the operation of the cremation furnace. Funerals in the ground need a minimum of invested energy to run, which is certainly an advantage. And not everyone needs a marble tombstone. In optimal aerated dry soil, the body will decompose in 10-15 years. This relatively slow decomposition process can then be classified as the first disadvantage.

The green cremation won't pass you up there

People, living and soon-dead, usually don't care how their bodies are treated once they are forever. Which is an aspect that occurs to not all progressive-minded people in simple calculations of emission balances of different types of funerals and their sustainability. Funeral is a ritual, not just a technically unspecified process of removing carcasses. Concern for the environment is a beautiful thing, but in terms of funerals, it inevitably comes into conflict with the local culture and religion. Which are much stronger motives for our actions than some current green ideals. In addition, believers usually have the preferred form of funeral literally "prescribed" above. Sometimes highly ritualized, sometimes fast and practical.

Neřešme pohřby, ale hřbitovy. Návrat k jejich spiritualitě může pomoci přírodě i nám

Countries with a predominance of Roman Catholic and Orthodox religions (2.38 billion believers), Muslims (1.9 billion) do not cost much for burial, while Hindus (1.16 billion) or Buddhists (0.50 billion) they cannot do without the cremation of the dead. Of the current 7.79 billion on Earth, only 15.58% of people (atheists, non-believers) are free to choose the form of their own funeral, although they follow local practice. Others on their last journey follow their faith.

The various fashionable eco-variations of resomation (loosely translated as disintegration), whether alkaline hydrolysis or decomposition of the body using decomposing fungi, thus have no real potential to address the sustainability of funerals truly globally. Nearly 85% of the human population has similar eco-fads forbidden.

Even the output of a clean process needs space

Although the alternatives usually produce fewer emissions than cremation, for example (which is not entirely true for funerals in coral reefs), these innovations practically no longer address what will happen to the remains. Which is a situation encountered by both traditional funerals and various forms of cremation. Survivors who perceive funeral across different cultures as a farewell and detachment usually do not want to say goodbye to their dear deceased.

Concern for the environment is a beautiful thing, but in terms of funerals, it inevitably comes into conflict with the local culture and religion.License | DocChewbacca / Flickr

With the exception of Hindus, the remains of those who have been disciplined in the discipline, ie ashes with an average weight of 2.4 kilograms per incinerated person, are often stored and deposited. In urns, columbariums, cemeteries, households, memorials, mausoleums and temples. And they take up space here, much like (albeit less space) like permanent plains, graves and tombs.

Thus, the biggest global problem of funeral services in the end is not growing procedural unsustainability, lack of material, energy consumption, emissions - but a critical lack of space for new cemeteries. Because in the last 8,000 years of humanity, in addition to civilization, we have "produced" 101 billion dead people who now lie wherever you look. Or rather, you don't look. Because it is usually located somewhere on the side, on the edge, behind the cemetery wall. Perhaps because they so persistently remind us of our own transience.

Cemetery? A place to live

The practice of operating cemeteries has various forms in the world, but what they have in common is the atmosphere. To the aura of a place of reverence. The individual representatives of the majority cultures and world religions are very likely to disagree sharply on religious issues, but the appearance of their cemeteries is surprisingly not very different. They are places of silence, peace, contemplation. In fact, such reservations for past memories. And for nature as well. Because cemeteries, those maintained and carefully guided to aesthetics, as well as those almost deserted and wildly overgrown, represent a unique series of habitats and fragments of pristine greenery, often in close proximity to or within widespread human settlements.

Although it may not seem like a good example at first glance, cemeteries are oases of life. It is one of the most diverse areas in urban planning. Worldwide. They playfully top the classic city street greenery, trimmed lawns and city parks, they are very close to the old natural gardens. The potential of burial grounds for the preservation of fauna and flora was thoroughly analyzed by a Hungarian study from 2019, published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation. What comes from it? For example, the most colorful show of rare orchids in Turkey can be seen in cemeteries, as well as the best nesting opportunities for small birds or wood-bound insects in Europe. Cemeteries provide a base for at least 140 endangered species of plants and animals. The trees in the cemeteries are among the largest and oldest in the man-made landscape.

Cemeteries are, in fact, oases of life. Those maintained and carefully guided to aesthetics, even those almost abandoned and wildly overgrown, represent a unique series of habitats and fragments of pristine greenery.License | Some rights reservedPhoto | Gord Webster / Flickr

In addition, unlike other semi-natural sites, cemeteries are exposed to only a minimum of disturbance. Locally, they are threatened only by the spread of non-native introduced plant species. Mowing, spraying or relocation of roads and other spectacular development plans are comfortably avoided. Cemeteries are simply stable islands of nature. Which is a rare commodity today. And while you have to constantly (and often unsuccessfully) explain to people how to behave in a nature reserve, it is not a problem for cemeteries. These are places where you don't want to leave more than you have to. And such a dignified, reverent, cemetery concept is inherent in most of the world. And from this point of view, this globally common natural denominator can probably be built more than on the various fashionable variations of funerals, which are culturally impassable.

There is no need to modernize funerals, but to return them to the past

The catch, and essential, is in the current trends, which generally go against the establishment of new and the expansion of old cemeteries. In today's hectic time, focused on performance and the existence of the living, this is not considered desirable. There is now a clear tendency around the world to reduce grave sites, to maximize the capacity of existing cemeteries. The place of contemplation really becomes a busy warehouse, where you have to wait for the place. This crowding then erases some of the biological qualities (just as the decay time increases non-optimally, for example). A common win-win approach to this situation, in terms of ecology, sustainability, cultural and religious diversity and accessibility, may be - not the innovation of funeral practices - but the targeted expansion of cemeteries into the open countryside.

Today, the average grave site "occupies" 76 x 245 centimeters. Not much, 1.8 square meters per person. If you multiply this area by 60 million people a year, you get about 10,800 hectares. About a sixth of the Šumava region. Divided into individual cemeteries, this represents a small but annual continuous increase in area, which, among other things, serves as a universal refuge for nature. Fauna and flora. An area that has the potential to be covered by treetops in a few decades that no one dares cut down. Regardless of your value, religious or cultural concept, you will not go to cut the tree under which your grandmother lies.

Believers and atheists disagree on whether it is a better, more practical or more environmentally friendly burial in the country or by burning. But the fact that the growing reverential burial grounds should remain intact is inherent in everyone, across the spectrum of opinions of various cultures. Such slowly expanding cemeteries could become a stable addition to the much-desired green space that, unlike the currently planted barn, no one would want to cut down as an energy-efficient biomass after twenty years. Funeral groves would remain intact for centuries. In sight of people, in contact with civilization, while getting closer to nature. Funerals may be more ecological in the future, but cemeteries are more or less "eco".

We don't need more sustainable funerals than better cemeteries. Not more modern, but more original. If we restore their former spirituality to them and let them "grow" freely, we will not live on it.