California Legalizes Human Composting as Catholics Fume

Rev Mark D

I would think the human body is far too full of pollutants and preservatives to allow back into the environment untransformed.

Rev Mark D

See, the drought out there is all because those States and acted this. God is punishing them with a drought.

Norma Battes

Ahh, I get your point. But native microorganism started much earlier than that.

take care

Christopher Tracey Robertson

Eat the Deceased? (Women and Children taste the Best) Dissolve the Deceased in Acid? (Hydrochloric Acid) Put the Deceased in Space? (My vote: Dark Side of the Moon) Put the Deceased in an Active Volcano? (Babuyan Claro) Deepest Darkest Ocean? (Mariana Trench)

Forget about the individual Beliefs. They're Deceased. Can they argue with the disposal process? Can the family argue with the disposal process?

I rest my case. (The Defense)

We can now hear final arguments.

Norma Battes

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Norma Battes

"Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email" Excuse me Mr. Moderator, what exactly is the difference here? I mean, especially since to send this I need to click on "Post Comment". Thank you.

Norma Battes

"Log-in to track new comments this blog post." Spelling and Grammar Police wanted in isle #3.

Howard Ellis

if you are not in your comments get dumped so why 要有點心

Dawn Maniccia

I feel the body's owner and immediate family should be able to decide what they want done with the remains. My Body My Choice right? Or that only applies to OTHER things.

David Messenger

I work in the hog industry, raising around 6000 finisher hogs at a time. My boss also works at the dairy here, that milks up to 1300 Holsteins. We compost all of our dead stock, burying it over with straw and manure. It's actually a very eco friendly way of disposing of anything dead. There is virtually no smell if everything is buried over properly, or spread of disease, and everything goes back to the land in a few weeks.

Clayton Lee Pratt

Yes I would 100%.good for the environment. Exactly the opposite of burial or cremation.

Eva Harvey

It's the least we can do to help a planet we destroyed. Give back, for real. Compost is the same as "ashes to ashes " after all.

Thomas P. Davis

As far as embalming a body, my mortician friend said that is only necessary if you not planted before 24 hours to prevent disease. Jews I understand are buried within that period. He said he was to because he was not going to let any one poke him full of holes to insert the fluid. As far as needing a body, what about those incarcerated in furnaces during the war, or burned up with the space shuttle exploded or eaten by lions etc. My friend said your gone in approx. six months if not embalmed other wise you will live on forever to be cut open in some biology class later in life or might even be seen on an episode of CSI. The only purpose of the vault is to keep you from leeching into the soil. Well they have been telling us for years the amount we pee and poop into the environment every year is catastrophic. In the end if we make the correct choices we all get new bodies any way.

John Casillo

HEAVEN HELP US ALL.......NEVER READ SO MANY MORONIC COMMENTS......LETS ALL GO GREEN....AND BE TURNED INTO ST......NO RESPECT FOR THE DEAD....NO RESPECT FOR THE LIVING.....WHY NOT JUST HAVE A GIANT ST HOLE (CALIF WOULD DO) AND BULLDOZE EVERYONE IN....SURELY SOME TYPE OF WEED WOULD GROW ON TOP....REV JOHN

Christine Nolte Joyce

Having grown up on a farm, it has always bothered me that our current burial methods contaminate the ground. I have often thought, that as God's stewards, this practice needed to be stopped and a more organic, holistic approach embraced. I feel it is my moral obligation, in death as in life, to engage in practices of sustainability. I'm am relieved to see this trend emerging. Humanity needs to reevaluate our impacts on this world and change our relationship to be better Stewards of the world that was gifted to us.

Carl Bernard Elfstrom

It would be better to save the earth, and throw those corpses out with the trash.

Steven Frederick Gordon

I object not on the basis of dignity but on the basis of disease. Some human pathogens, such as prions, can persist in the soil for decades if not longer. In the UK more rose gardeners got Mad Cow than beef eaters because they use bone meal. Iowa, a farm state, for example, requires a concrete vault around a coffin.

Ella Richards

I have concerns about the water table and soil pollution. They are already finding our drinking water contaminated with prescription drugs and this will add the unknown vaccine residuals to our soil (gardens) and ground water.

Dawn-Marie Tol

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Miguel Angel Valentino Quiroz III

It is from dust we come, and to dust we shall return ... .. . of course this is below humans, mother earth literally supports the human race as we stand upon her shoulders as she lifts us up to reach for the stars. God exists in all things, therefore becoming compost (should one choose since EVERY human has been gifted with FREE WILL) is the ultimate reunion with God here on Earth, as we also do in Heaven ... .. .

Rev Ned

I used to think it would be fun to be buried with no coffin or headstone in a random place 5-10 miles out of town. Then, 10+ years later, when digging someone's basement, they'd find you. Who knows what fun you'd cause?

J Orville Adams

The circle of life - plants receive energy from the sun and carbon (CO2) from the soil and air to produce glucose, humans, and the other animals, consume that glucose and release the energy for our out needs and release CO2. If we turn ourself into compost (which I will now that it is legal) then we complete the circle by giving back to the plants the nutrients and minerals it needs to produce more energy for those behind us.

Also, there are 8 billion people on the planet. If each one used a casket and not a tomb, that would take up 288 million cubic feet of land. If you include a tomb, you can take that to 0.5 billion cubic feet! That's 390,000 average 12 x 12 rooms, 25 skyscrapers full of caskets. Not very ecological...

Kimberly Anne Allchurch Flick

This is such a beautiful way to honor the dignity of nature and how the wisdom of nature has handled the deaths of animals and plants through time. Before humans started using toxic chemicals to preserve, and spend thousands on coffins to keep bodies underground, taking land an energy, bodies have been shrouded and buried, put to sea, or left for millenia.

Reasons compost is so much better: Healing the Climate For every person who chooses Recompose over conventional burial or cremation, one metric ton of carbon dioxide is prevented from entering the atmosphere. In addition, our approach to human composting requires 1/8 the energy of conventional burial or cremation. Recompose allows you to choose an end-of-life option that strengthens the environment rather than depleting it.

Moving Away from Toxic Practices Current funerary practices are environmentally problematic. Each year, 2.7 million people die in the U.S., and most are buried in a conventional cemetery or cremated.

Cremation burns fossil fuels and emits carbon dioxide and particulates into the atmosphere. Conventional burial consumes valuable urban land, pollutes the soil, and contributes to climate change through resource-intensive manufacture and transport of caskets, headstones, and grave liners. The overall environmental impact of conventional burial and cremation is about the same.

Creating Soil Health The breakdown of organic matter is an essential component in the cycle that allows the death of one organism to nurture the life of another. Soil is the foundation of a healthy ecosystem. It filters water, provides nutrients to plants, sequesters carbon, and helps regulate global temperature.

We can give back for the future health of our planet. This is what Recompose offers: LAYING-IN CEREMONY We offer a laying-in ceremony, or a green funeral, that allows you the opportunity to honor your loved one with care and respect. Much like the moment when a body is interred into the earth during a burial, the laying-in represents a moment of transition. Our experienced Services team can help you plan your person’s laying-in every step of the way.

SOIL TRANSFORMATION Your loved one’s body will be surrounded by wood chips, alfalfa, and straw in a vessel where microbes will naturally break the body down. The entire process, from placing your person into the vessel to finished soil, takes between six to eight weeks.

GIVING BACK Once complete, similar to ashes from a cremation, the soil can be used however you choose—to enrich a garden, plant a tree, or spread across multiple locations. If you prefer not to keep all, or any, of the soil, we will donate it to Bells Mountain, 700 acres of conserved land in southern Washington.

Jeanne M Zieger

So in this same issue there is an article "Losing our Religion" regarding the projected decline in Christians in the US. I believe this composting uproar of the Catholic Church is a perfect example of why this trend is gaining speed with the "none" as they were referred too. If we want the younger generations to embrace some or our beliefs, then I think it is incumbent for us to embrace some of theirs.

The most disturbing part is that the Church's stance doesn't seem based in scripture. They are siting that it "“fails to show enough respect for the body of the deceased.” This doesn't sound like an argument based in religious belief. So I have to ask why? I have personally checked into a "green burial" in the past where your body is clothed in pure cotton, your casket is made from untreated plain wood. It is a type compost, but the process takes 20 to 25 years to complete.

I say "lets worry less about matter's like this Catholic Church" and let's concentrate on trying to help all our fellow people out there that have been suffering and need grace.

Mabh

I love the idea of my body becoming soil via composting. It seems like the perfect completion of the cycle of my existence. I don’t believe composting is mandatory which leaves the Catholic church and its adherents plenty of choices as to how their remains are dealt with.

Vicki

There are also green cemeteries - not all that different from composting and it sounds nicer. In Wisconsin I'm familiar with the Natural Path Cemetery: http://farleycenter.org/nps/ where people are buried in a shroud and will eventually decompose. There aren't gravestones, only a map if you want to know where the bodies are.

Vicki

There are also green cemeteries - not all that different from composting and it sounds nicer. In Wisconsin I'm familiar with the Natural Path Cemetery: http://farleycenter.org/nps/ where people are buried in a shroud and will eventually decompose. There aren't gravestones, only a map if you want to know where the bodies are.

Michael J Kloc

At least in the movie Solent Green human remains were turned into edible biscuits to feed the starving population. That has an immediate benefit vs fertilizer but ultimately both are beneficial and useful.

Pink Clover

How the Catholic church feels about this means absolutely nothing. The environmental issues should be checked out thoroughly, but if your religion doesn't allow you to do it (when will you think for yourself?) then don't do it. I'm pretty tired of religious folks trying to tell the rest of us what we should and should not be doing.

Donald G Magel

My wife and I are donating our bodies to a University medical school. After that, composting sounds like a good gift to our environment.

Rev. Jim Sutton

What about "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" and Gen. 3:19 ?

Personally, I'm being cremated and joining the rest of my family in a crypt.

Retta K Mallady

I'd love to be composted. The cost needs to come down and they need to offer it at National Cemeteries where our veterans often go. I am a veteran who is soon to go there myself, probably within this next decade, and I don't think they will give me a green burial there. At least I can say no to embalming, as I don't intend to have an open casket funeral, or anything else but a graveside gathering of a very few, as I prefer not to be remembered as dead. Why anyone wants that dead image to be the last image your loved ones see is beyond my comprehension. But, each to their own.

Robert Duff

I have it in my will to be composted. I agree with the Outlaw Josey Wales that "Buzzards gotta eat same as worms."

Susan Jeannette Boston

We started from dirt and we will return to dirt (Reference) According to Genesis 2:7 "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul"

I don't see a subject requiring any controversy here do you?

God bless you and all the lives you touch.

Jude Christensen

I fully support a return to the earth as a natural process. The digestive biome of our bodies contains bacteria that will grow fungus. With the current practice of layering the body with a heavy casket and liner, it prevents decomposition for many years. This article states that a body will turn to compost in a month. It will start in a month and take much longer than that to fully decompose. I suggest researching getting a biodegradable shroud that contains mushroom(fungus) spores to speed up the process. It is my hope that the Catholic Church will come around. With continued objection to birth control and abortion, won’t they understand that “dust to dust” is more sustainable on the limited space of earth?

Lisa Morgan

I think a person should be able to do as they wish at the end. But I will be cremated. I can only imagine the infectious diseases and pharmaceuticals that could be leaked into our soil causing many problems. Hepatitis, HIV, amongst others as well as birth control, and certain medications that can be hazardous. Some chemotherapies aren't even suppised to be touched with human hands. Hence what will be leaked into our soil.

Clifford Aguirre

God created the earth. So when we are put into the ground either by burial, cremation or composting, we are actually going right back into God's creation. How can that be lower than the dignity of people? You are actually becoming a part of everything that God created. You may actually help to grow a tree. I would rather have my children and grandchildren sit under a tree that grew from me than sit at a cement tombstone.

Mary Jane Ellen

My arrangements are already made with the funeral home. I am being cremated, put in a urn I have chosen and buried on top of my mother. It isn’t like I can ever use my body again! I honestly don’t care what happens to my body after I pass...... NO CALLING HOURS, NO FUNERAL, NO GRAVESIDE SERVICES! I will be done with this crappy world!!!

Carl Bernard Elfstrom

Another thing they could do with corpses is put them in spaceship, and dump them in outer space, or wait until they get out there, then cremate them, and release the ashes into space. They could even bury them on the moon. That would free up a lot of land on this planet that could be used for other things.

Carl Bernard Elfstrom

I bet not many people are going to want to buy a bag of compost knowing it contains human beings.

George T Tusi

for thousands of years we had a basic body composting. granted burial in the dirt is often called something else but is the exact same thing. all of a sudden their is a problem with it ? and the problem is based on nothing found in the holy scripture. The problem stems from the opinion of Man, NOT GOD. For to God In all His Power and Glory, This Is Not even worth mentioning. Do you think his power was tested in the vision of dry Bones ? oh ye of little faith. His power was NOT even Tested. His will Was Done And that was all that was needed.

Bridget Kielas-Fecyk

People are not going to be put into compost piles and left to rot like garbage. Idiots among the religious groups are screaming that's how it will be, but it's NOT. What they are talking about is cremating the body and taking the nutrient-rich ash and mixing it with soil. Then the people being allowed to take the remains and use them to grow plants. Another thing that people want to be able to do is take the corpse and have a simple, easily degraded, coffin and when the body is buried, a tree is planted on top of it so that people can go to the tree, a living thing, and it will be a symbol of the person that they loved. In essence, giving the person they loved a second life.

Catholics, and others, can fume all they want, but this is not "Death in Indignity". This is a dignified end. Being allowed to take the body of loved ones and, by planting seeds with them, sometimes burying them without coffins, which of course means they cannot be embalmed, they can bring forth new life.

Martin L Stigleman

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. ~Genesis 2:7

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust..." is the most well known burial verse in existence.

...and yet "Catholic leadership declared that composting 'fails to show enough respect for the body of the deceased.'

Wow...Just...Wow. Maybe the Catholic Church knows how things should be a bit better than God does.

Diane Minna LaFave

Yes I would consider that I have currently donated my body to science . I like the idea of of being productive even after my death. Besides , I will no longer have need of my body. As far as dignity goes, show me dignity while I'm alive.

David W Otte

I have no problem with this concept.

I'd prefer an open pyre cremation.

Or, plant me, no casket, and place Datura and Acacia above the body. Let the children play and dance in the shade.

Minister David W. Otte

Kevin James Bogan

From dust we came and unto dust we shall return. Why all the drama?

Guy Sutherland McLaren

If you don't want to be composted, don't be composted, Myself, I have no problem with being fed to vultures and hyenas, and the worms can have the rest, As that is not a real option in South Africa, I will look into this composting thing.

Barry T Gabbard

as far as imp concerned it is cannibalism. it is sick to think you would spread someone's ashes or dirt like substance in a area used for food (which is what alot of them suggest). this is satans way to get you to do that--to eat someone--they eat the flesh in satanic rituals--why not just cut them up and eat them--damn near the same thing--plus that will be next--why do you think there are all kinds of shows promoting that.

the only people who would accept something like that i guarantee you, they are not Christians period. they may say they are Christians, but they don't repent of their sins and follow Jesus.

so--anyone who doesn't follow Jesus Christ and repent of your sins--go ahead--eat of your mother or gmas ashes or compost--get everything you can in this life time (money, money, money) because whether you believe it or not, hell is real and you are going there for eternity!!

Keith Graham Ainsworth

It doesn't make any difference, we all become compost if we are buried. It's only our body anyway. The Californian government is appealing to the hip, trendy wannabes who are likely incapable of original thought.

Douglas Robert Spindler

Everyone is forgetting the money aspect…. The Catholic Church makes a nice profit with every funeral.

Douglas Robert Spindler

We were made of stardust. And will become stardust after we die. Doesn’t matter what Catholics believe, they too will become stardust like all non-Catholics.

NLilly

I simply stand in agreement with the Catholics on this one. Honor the deceased with a proper burial service. It's my Family Tradition, as the human body is sacred, in Life and in Death. Bury the dead with dignity, in JESUS Name! AMEN! Even cremation is not an option, in my upbringing. GOD Bless. ♥ ♥

I guess that kind of option will cause the burial prices to drastically reduce to sensible meanings, as some Funeral Homes are charging 'out the roof' now, for proper burials, and that's just being cruel and greedy to the grieving family members.

Joy

Before coffins weren't people just buried under dirt and rocks? As long as this doesn't go all out dystopian or bodies pile up above ground, I don't see a problem. Perhaps it is just once again the church trying to control people to do as they say (and not as they do)?

Robert Gagnon

I always wanted to be cremated and flushed but my wife won't flush me. Saw it done in a movie way after I thought of it. Everything goes back to where it came from. Give onto God what is Gods'.

Charles Jude Platt

Catholicism is a religion of extremes, good or bad. They certainly have their fair share of "nuts" in their clergy. I believe we were taught that on the last day, "there will be a resurrection of the body & soul." (I think it went something like that, lol) So friends, if God is so powerful to make it happen, any damn way he/she wants. Why not keep the faith, albeit insane? Take me away and plant me under a Weeping Willow.

Dr. Zerpersande, NSC

If you are religious and yet don’t understand why the Catholics would have this position then you now have experienced how rational critical thinkers view you.

Minister Carlos Ricardo Walls

I read where this is an alternative to burial.So far three states are considering this service called composting.Everything in our society is trying to upgrade or update in some form or fashion.It remains to be seen if it catches on.

Chris

As with everything else the religious folk try to force, if they don't like it they don't have to participate. Once a person is dead, the body is just a pile of meat, bone, and fat. I have no problem with composting. It's better for the environment than embalming someone and putting them in an expensive box in the ground.

Colleen McAllister

I'm not sure about this one. I prefer cremation and have done so with my parent and brother. Not sure about all the chemicals we would be releasing just the thought of boxes lined up with decomposing bodies sounds creepy to me. Each to his own. My God can put me back together no matter what form I am in.

Michael Hall

There are several methods to deal with the deceased and if the Catholic faith says, "don't do this one", that's on them. I've paid for my cremation through the Neptune Society. Now, whether they offer an alkaline hydrolysis option, like this appears to be, I don't know, but whatever happens, I'll be dead.

Bishop William Dusenberry, DD

When we were kids— we used to ask our Roman Catholic friends, why they couldn’t eat meat on Fridays ( which they could be consigned to a Hell - for eternity- for doing.)

We used to ask “Do Catholics — who partake in “Holy Communion” actually eat a piece of the Christian Gods Son (Jesus) — and, if so, does this constitute cannibalism?

And, can a Catholic vegetarian eat Holy Communion (which is actually a piece of the body of Jesus) do so — while still considering themselves a vegetarian?

And, if cannibalism is illegal in the USA— isn’t this a violation of the “Freedom of Religion” Amendment to the USA Constitution?

Parson Golden

If I should die before I wake, All my bone and sinew take Put me in the compost pile To decompose me for a while.

Worms, water, sun will have their way, Returning me to common clay All that I am will feed the trees And little fishes in the seas.

When radishes and corn you munch, You may be having me for lunch And then excrete me with a grin, Chortling, "There goes Lee again“…

Geoffrey C. Olive

Monty Python had an alternative with their third option: burn, bury or dump!

Reverend Buzz

No different than burial at sea, which has long been a respected means of disposing of human remains.

Richard Darwin Richards

No surprise here,just look at what California is and what they stand for...

Reverend K

Being part of creation sounds great to me.

Reverend Kurt

On the surface it seems like an ideal solution for the looming mortality crisis. However one huge drawback is the massive amount of pharmaceuticals in our bodies. These will contaminate the compost for generations to come. Examples glyphosphate,statins , birth control and so on Consider carefully!

Nicholas J Page

I was just under the impression that after cremation.The ashes were given back to the relatives and they either kept them or scattered them at the deceased favourite spot .I'm being cremated and having my ashes scattered at sea as I come from the coast

Rev. MichaelRS

I imagine if somebody is going to go for that, despite what their religious Faith may say or dictate, they're probably not a particularly good person in that Faith to begin with.

I don't mean that they are not a good person period. I mean they're not a good person in the faith. As in not a "GOOD Catholic", to use the subject of the article.

taycomama

I fail to understand the Catholic objection. Doesn't their funeral have something about "dust to dust?" It doesn't say "dust plus a $5,000 casket to dust." Fortunately the Catholics don't make the laws for the rest of us.

Magistar Mormaer MacLean

I would be quite happy to be the compost under the planting of a sapling.

Diane Minna LaFave

I have donated my body to be used in scientific research. I like the idea o being of use for the human race after my death. As long as the composting is on a volunteer bases I'm OK with it. Pastor Diane