User:Lyn9/Natural burial

Aotearoa
Long before natural burials became a marketable service, Maori honored the dead in environmentally responsible ways.

Much of Maori culture is defined by a respect and duty to Papatuanuku, or mother nature. As such, bodies went untreated with artificial chemicals or preservatives, which sped up the natural process of decomposition. Unfortunately, contact with Europeans has Westernized, transformed, devalued, or erased many traditional Maori practices, including the treatment of the dead. Because of this, many Maori today are forced to compromise their cultural obligations for unsustainable modern funerals. However, current indigenous rights and reform movements aim to decolonize and reclaim Maori burials. Some suggestions of sustainable burial treatments combine old traditions and modern technology, such as:


 * Suspending bodies in trees
 * Standing burials
 * Using flax woven coffins
 * Hybrid cemeteries

History
Although natural burials present themselves as a relatively modern concept in Western societies, they have been practiced for many years in different cultures out of "religious obligation, necessity, or tradition". For example, many Muslims perform natural burial out of a duty to their religion. Others, like those in African countries, bury naturally because they cannot afford the cost of embalming. In China, the cultural revolution saw the popularity of burial rise over cremation. Truly natural burials also include the burial of bodies within tree roots in the Amazon rainforest in Peru, and burying the deceased in the Tanzanian bush. According to Nature, the earliest known human burial dates back to the Middle Stone Age (about 74 – 82 thousand years ago) of a toddler in what is now Kenya.

Types
The Green Burial Council (GBC) identifies three types of natural burial cemeteries:


 * 1) Hybrid burial grounds
 * 2) Natural burial grounds
 * 3) Conservation burial grounds

All types of natural burials – hybrid, natural, and conservation – must meet standards of "burial practice" and "customer relation" according to the GBC. More specifically, a hybrid burial ground can be certified when it forbids embalming, prohibits toxic or non-degradable chemicals in the burial process, and mandates natural burial advertising. The second type, natural burial grounds, must fulfill the requirements of hybrid burial grounds as well as require "site planning" and a survey of the land that stakes out important areas for preservation. Natural burial grounds also need a deed restriction. As for conservation burial grounds, restoration of at least two to four hectares of land and an official draft of a conservation easement are additional requirements.

Applications
Due to their potential for being repurposed for public use, natural burial sites can offer many valuable services that modern methods of burial (i.e. cemeteries) do not, such as "recreation, human health and restoration, stormwater management, microclimate regulation, [and] aesthetics". Issues like the scarcity and high expense of real estate could possibly be mitigated by reinventing existing spaces like cemeteries, instead of developing on new land. For example, instead of replacing modern cemeteries with commercial or residential development, they can continue to function as green space for public parks. However, this concept of repurposing graveyards into not only more eco-friendly burial sites but areas of recreation causes controversy between those whose sole intent is to grieve and those who believe the land could be used more productively.

Tree pod burial
More and more companies like Capsula Mundi, The Living Urn, and Coeio are offering tree pod burials, where the corpse is first stored in an egg-shaped pod made of biodegradable and compostable materials. The pod is then deposited into the ground, where a tree is planted above it. Over the years, the body and pod decompose and enrich the soil with nutrients for the tree to intake and grow. Some architectural prototypes employing tree pod burials envision a forest park of the deceased, where mourning loved ones could take a stroll and honor the dead, as opposed to a more artificially constructed graveyard.

While less environmentally friendly, an alternative design of the pod offers to contain ashes instead of the body.