Spade began her investigation as a master’s student in Architecture with her thesis, “A Place for the Urban Dead”. Looking to replicate pet composting to humans, she invested a decade of research and fundraising into the Urban Death Project, followed by the launch of Recompose in 2020. Her intention was not only develop a sustainable system but also involve community members in the transformation of their loved one’s body into soil.
Human composting laws have been enacted in Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, and New York. A similar bill in California received bipartisan support but was shelved in August 2021. In some states, such as New York, the Catholic Church has opposed organic reductions naturally, call this process “more suitable for vegetable trimmings and eggshells than for the human body”. But this religious outcry hasn’t stopped the legislation, especially as funeral homes are flooded with bodies awaiting cremation and burial during Covid-19.
Another company in Washington, Back home, provides human compost in a facility open to the public, with a vessel capacity of 74 people.
“It’s about regaining the ability to say goodbye to our loved ones,” said CEO Micah Truman. “There was a man who came in every morning and brought two cups of coffee, one for his wife in the train and one for him. With choice, people want to participate and that makes a difference in the world.”
During my visit to the Forest lab at Western Carolina University, Zejdlik highlighted the potential of composting, especially since many people think burial and cremation are their only options: Farm animals are always composted,” she said. “And if human composting succeeds, it could be phenomenal.” She notes the environmental benefits in urban areas where green space is scarce for burial sites, where land is a resource that needs to be conserved.
Human composting is not yet available in North Carolina, where I live, but support has grown in many states since legalization in Washington in 2019. In many cities, restriction code surrounding composting poses initial obstacles to the relatively new natural de-organization process. However, shortly after human composting became legal in Colorado in September 2021, Natural Funeral built vessels for composting and began offering this service as a supplement to green burial and water burial, which uses water and lye for cremation instead of fire.
“We are about to put our fourth person in a Chrysalis Vessel,” said Karen van Vuuren, co-founder of Natural Funerals in Boulder. She explains that they named the ship after a builder named Chris, who helped build a container that could turn bodies into earth.
“The first person to be brought on board was a heavy loss,” van Vuuren said, “He was a young man. But the family was able to put handwritten notes on the body and lift him on board to return to earth.”
In a world where 100 companies responsible for 71% of global greenhouse gases emissions, climate action by individuals can feel difficult or inefficient. My end-of-life decisions — in partnership with my daughters — won’t change the climate crisis, but I believe in the momentum created by individuals in the community, especially when it comes to action. Our ultimate best can create a connection between life, death and earth. Planning for our demise can engage our families, friends, and communities while nourishing the land, rather than fueling our climate emergency.
