0:00:01.388,0:00:03.001
When I die,

0:00:03.025,0:00:08.108
I would like for my body[br]to be laid out to be eaten by animals.

0:00:09.100,0:00:13.811
Having your body laid out to be eaten[br]by animals is not for everyone.

0:00:13.835,0:00:14.868
(Laughter)

0:00:14.892,0:00:18.845
Maybe you have already had[br]the end-of-life talk with your family

0:00:18.869,0:00:22.589
and decided on --[br]I don't know -- cremation.

0:00:23.013,0:00:25.579
And in the interest of full disclosure,

0:00:25.603,0:00:31.591
what I am proposing for my dead body[br]is not strictly legal at the moment,

0:00:31.615,0:00:33.606
but it's not without precedent.

0:00:34.104,0:00:37.692
We've been laying out our dead[br]for all of human history;

0:00:37.716,0:00:39.785
it's call exposure burial.

0:00:40.276,0:00:44.356
In fact, it's likely happening[br]right now as we speak.

0:00:44.864,0:00:47.095
In the mountainous regions of Tibet,

0:00:47.119,0:00:49.183
they practice "sky burial,"

0:00:49.207,0:00:53.098
a ritual where the body is left[br]to be consumed by vultures.

0:00:53.725,0:00:58.951
In Mumbai, in India,[br]those who follow the Parsi religion

0:00:58.975,0:01:03.252
put their dead in structures[br]called "Towers of Silence."

0:01:03.667,0:01:06.211
These are interesting cultural tidbits,

0:01:06.235,0:01:10.683
but they just haven't really been[br]that popular in the Western world --

0:01:10.707,0:01:12.407
they're not what you'd expect.

0:01:13.158,0:01:18.188
In America, our death traditions[br]have come to be chemical embalming,

0:01:18.212,0:01:21.593
followed by burial at your local cemetery,

0:01:21.617,0:01:23.937
or, more recently, cremation.

0:01:25.023,0:01:28.286
I myself, am a recent vegetarian,

0:01:28.310,0:01:31.929
which means I spent the first[br]30 years or so of my life

0:01:31.953,0:01:34.160
frantically inhaling animals --

0:01:34.184,0:01:36.162
as many as I could get my hands on.

0:01:36.886,0:01:41.466
Why, when I die, should they not[br]have their turn with me?

0:01:41.490,0:01:43.257
(Laughter)

0:01:43.281,0:01:45.161
Am I not an animal?

0:01:45.185,0:01:49.949
Biologically speaking,[br]are we not all, in this room, animals?

0:01:51.129,0:01:53.781
Accepting the fact that we are animals

0:01:53.805,0:01:56.936
has some potentially[br]terrifying consequences.

0:01:57.400,0:02:01.428
It means accepting[br]that we are doomed to decay and die,

0:02:01.452,0:02:04.694
just like any other creature on Earth.

0:02:06.256,0:02:09.870
For the last nine years,[br]I've worked in the funeral industry,

0:02:09.894,0:02:12.025
first as a crematory operator,

0:02:12.049,0:02:13.527
then as a mortician

0:02:13.551,0:02:16.663
and most recently, as the owner[br]of my own funeral home.

0:02:17.342,0:02:19.074
And I have some good news:

0:02:19.098,0:02:24.670
if you're looking to avoid the whole[br]"doomed to decay and die" thing:

0:02:24.694,0:02:28.910
you will have all the help[br]in the world in that avoidance

0:02:28.934,0:02:30.711
from the funeral industry.

0:02:31.820,0:02:33.985
It's a multi-billion-dollar industry,

0:02:34.009,0:02:36.993
and its economic model[br]is based on the principle

0:02:37.017,0:02:42.496
of protection, sanitation[br]and beautification of the corpse.

0:02:43.610,0:02:45.782
Whether they mean to or not,

0:02:45.806,0:02:50.299
the funeral industry promotes[br]this idea of human exceptionalism.

0:02:50.816,0:02:52.458
It doesn't matter what it takes,

0:02:52.482,0:02:53.774
how much it costs,

0:02:53.798,0:02:55.756
how bad it is for the environment,

0:02:55.780,0:02:59.053
we're going to do it[br]because humans are worth it!

0:02:59.947,0:03:01.535
It ignores the fact

0:03:01.559,0:03:06.646
that death can be an emotionally messy[br]and complex affair,

0:03:06.670,0:03:09.214
and that there is beauty in decay --

0:03:09.238,0:03:13.651
beauty in the natural return[br]to the Earth from whence we came.

0:03:15.180,0:03:17.096
Now, I don't want you to get me wrong --

0:03:17.120,0:03:20.107
I absolutely understand[br]the importance of ritual,

0:03:20.131,0:03:23.232
especially when it comes[br]to the people that we love.

0:03:23.256,0:03:26.791
But we have to be able[br]to create and practice this ritual

0:03:26.815,0:03:28.596
without harming the environment,

0:03:28.620,0:03:31.559
which is why we need new options.

0:03:32.415,0:03:37.455
So let's return to the idea of protection,[br]sanitation and beautification.

0:03:37.479,0:03:39.255
We'll start with a dead body.

0:03:39.852,0:03:42.871
The funeral industry[br]will protect your dead body

0:03:42.895,0:03:47.736
by offering to sell your family a casket[br]made of hardwood or metal

0:03:47.760,0:03:49.639
with a rubber sealant.

0:03:50.263,0:03:53.834
At the cemetery, on the day of burial,[br]that casket will be lowered

0:03:53.858,0:03:56.995
into a large concrete or metal vault.

0:03:57.753,0:04:01.677
We're wasting all of these resources --[br]concretes, metal, hardwoods --

0:04:01.701,0:04:05.466
hiding them in vast[br]underground fortresses.

0:04:06.300,0:04:08.848
When you choose burial at the cemetery,

0:04:08.872,0:04:14.165
your dead body is not coming anywhere[br]near the dirt that surrounds it.

0:04:14.750,0:04:16.304
Food for worms,

0:04:16.328,0:04:17.505
you are not.

0:04:18.657,0:04:23.476
Next, the industry will sanitize[br]your body through embalming:

0:04:23.500,0:04:25.701
the chemical preservation of the dead.

0:04:26.306,0:04:28.240
This procedure drains your blood,

0:04:28.264,0:04:32.566
and replaces it with a toxic,[br]cancer-causing formaldehyde.

0:04:33.649,0:04:35.992
They say they do this[br]for the public health

0:04:36.016,0:04:38.866
because the dead body can be dangerous,

0:04:38.890,0:04:41.389
but the doctors in this room will tell you

0:04:41.413,0:04:44.167
that that claim would only apply

0:04:44.191,0:04:49.107
if the person had died of some wildly[br]infectious disease, like Ebola.

0:04:50.021,0:04:53.260
Even human decomposition,[br]which, let's be honest,

0:04:53.284,0:04:56.274
is a little stinky and unpleasant,

0:04:56.298,0:04:58.041
is perfectly safe.

0:04:58.795,0:05:03.303
The bacteria that causes disease[br]is not the same bacteria

0:05:03.327,0:05:05.301
that causes decomposition.

0:05:06.656,0:05:10.596
Finally, the industry[br]will beautify the corpse.

0:05:11.181,0:05:15.070
They'll tell you that the natural[br]dead body of your mother or father

0:05:15.094,0:05:17.178
is not good enough as it is.

0:05:17.665,0:05:19.393
They'll put it in makeup.

0:05:19.417,0:05:21.208
They'll put it in a suit.

0:05:21.232,0:05:25.171
They'll inject dyes so the person[br]looks a little more alive --

0:05:25.195,0:05:26.481
just resting.

0:05:27.672,0:05:29.938
Embalming is a cheat code,

0:05:29.962,0:05:34.359
providing the illusion that death[br]and then decay are not the natural end

0:05:34.383,0:05:37.268
for all organic life on this planet.

0:05:38.609,0:05:43.627
Now, if this system of beautification,[br]sanitation, protection

0:05:43.651,0:05:45.844
doesn't appeal to you,

0:05:45.868,0:05:47.267
you are not alone.

0:05:47.830,0:05:49.806
There is a whole wave of people --

0:05:49.830,0:05:52.794
funeral directors, designers,[br]environmentalists --

0:05:52.818,0:05:56.629
trying to come up with a more[br]eco-friendly way of death.

0:05:57.381,0:05:59.863
For these people, death is not necessarily

0:05:59.887,0:06:04.079
a pristine, makeup,[br]powder-blue tuxedo kind of affair.

0:06:04.746,0:06:06.144
There's no question

0:06:06.168,0:06:10.095
that our current methods of death[br]are not particularly sustainable,

0:06:10.119,0:06:13.755
what with the waste of resources[br]and our reliance on chemicals.

0:06:14.498,0:06:15.840
Even cremation,

0:06:15.864,0:06:19.582
which is usually considered[br]the environmentally friendly option,

0:06:19.606,0:06:21.844
uses, per cremation,

0:06:21.868,0:06:26.768
the natural gas equivalent[br]of a 500-mile car trip.

0:06:27.928,0:06:30.482
So where do we go from here?

0:06:31.368,0:06:34.720
Last summer, I was in the mountains[br]of North Carolina,

0:06:34.744,0:06:38.091
hauling buckets of wood chips[br]in the summer sun.

0:06:38.741,0:06:42.930
I was at Western Carolina University[br]at their "Body Farm,"

0:06:42.954,0:06:46.786
more accurately called[br]a "human decomposition facility."

0:06:47.794,0:06:50.039
Bodies donated to science[br]are brought here,

0:06:50.063,0:06:54.087
and their decay is studied[br]to benefit the future of forensics.

0:06:54.820,0:06:56.108
On this particular day,

0:06:56.132,0:07:00.703
there were 12 bodies laid out[br]in various stages of decomposition.

0:07:00.727,0:07:03.008
Some were skeletonized,

0:07:03.032,0:07:05.404
one was wearing purple pajamas,

0:07:05.428,0:07:08.164
one still had blonde facial hair visible.

0:07:09.210,0:07:12.119
The forensic aspect is really fascinating,

0:07:12.143,0:07:14.539
but not actually why I was there.

0:07:14.563,0:07:17.825
I was there because a colleague of mine[br]named Katrina Spade

0:07:17.849,0:07:22.189
is attempting to create a system,[br]not of cremating the dead,

0:07:22.213,0:07:24.163
but composting the dead.

0:07:24.925,0:07:27.443
She calls the system "Recomposition,"

0:07:27.467,0:07:31.139
and we've been doing it with cattle[br]and other livestock for years.

0:07:31.645,0:07:33.169
She imagines a facility

0:07:33.193,0:07:35.819
where the family could come[br]and lay their dead loved one

0:07:35.843,0:07:40.274
in a nutrient-rich mixture that would,[br]in four-to-six weeks,

0:07:40.298,0:07:43.902
reduce the body -- bones[br]and all -- to soil.

0:07:44.802,0:07:46.247
In those four-to-six weeks,

0:07:46.271,0:07:48.729
your molecules become other molecules;

0:07:48.753,0:07:50.491
you literally transform.

0:07:51.706,0:07:54.759
How would this fit in[br]with the very recent desire

0:07:54.783,0:07:56.385
a lot of people seem to have

0:07:56.409,0:07:57.914
to be buried under a tree,

0:07:57.938,0:07:59.999
or to become a tree when they die?

0:08:00.710,0:08:04.240
In a traditional cremation,[br]the ashes that are leftover --

0:08:04.264,0:08:06.250
inorganic bone fragments --

0:08:06.274,0:08:08.525
form a thick, chalky layer

0:08:08.549,0:08:11.772
that, unless distributed[br]in the soil just right,

0:08:11.796,0:08:14.973
can actually hurt or kill the tree.

0:08:15.552,0:08:18.857
But if you're recomposed,[br]if you actually become the soil,

0:08:18.881,0:08:20.415
you can nourish the tree,

0:08:20.439,0:08:24.128
and become the post-mortem contributor[br]you've always wanted to be --

0:08:24.152,0:08:25.945
that you deserve to be.

0:08:26.818,0:08:30.161
So that's one option[br]for the future of cremation.

0:08:30.185,0:08:32.570
But what about the future of cemeteries?

0:08:33.112,0:08:37.177
There are a lot of people who think[br]we shouldn't even have cemeteries anymore

0:08:37.201,0:08:39.240
because we're running out of land.

0:08:39.977,0:08:42.190
But what if we reframed it,

0:08:42.214,0:08:44.819
and the corpse wasn't the land's enemy,

0:08:44.843,0:08:46.802
but its potential savior?

0:08:47.805,0:08:50.358
I'm talking about conservation burial,

0:08:50.382,0:08:54.441
where large swaths of land[br]are purchased by a land trust.

0:08:55.274,0:09:00.104
The beauty of this is that once you plant[br]a few dead bodies in that land,

0:09:00.128,0:09:03.146
it can't be touched,[br]it can't be developed on --

0:09:03.170,0:09:05.968
hence the term, "conservation burial."

0:09:05.992,0:09:09.874
It's the equivalent of chaining yourself[br]to a tree post-mortem --

0:09:09.898,0:09:12.362
"Hell no, I won't go!

0:09:12.386,0:09:15.431
No, really -- I can't.[br]I'm decomposing under here."

0:09:15.455,0:09:16.550
(Laughter)

0:09:16.574,0:09:18.895
Any money that the family[br]gives to the cemetery

0:09:18.919,0:09:22.428
would go back into protecting[br]and managing the land.

0:09:23.376,0:09:27.775
There are no headstones[br]and no graves in the typical sense.

0:09:27.799,0:09:29.946
The graves are scattered[br]about the property

0:09:29.970,0:09:31.530
under elegant mounds,

0:09:31.554,0:09:35.235
marked only by a rock[br]or a small metal disk,

0:09:35.259,0:09:38.157
or sometimes only locatable by GPS.

0:09:38.743,0:09:40.417
There's no embalming,

0:09:40.441,0:09:42.640
no heavy, metal caskets.

0:09:43.300,0:09:45.505
My funeral home sells a few caskets

0:09:45.529,0:09:49.281
made out of things like[br]woven willow and bamboo,

0:09:49.305,0:09:53.028
but honestly, most of our families[br]just choose a simple shroud.

0:09:53.979,0:09:57.819
There are none of the big vaults[br]that most cemeteries require

0:09:57.843,0:10:01.162
just because it makes it easier[br]for them to landscape.

0:10:02.101,0:10:05.633
Families can come here;[br]they can luxuriate in nature;

0:10:05.657,0:10:08.334
they can even plant a tree or a shrub,

0:10:08.358,0:10:11.360
though only native plants[br]to the area are allowed.

0:10:12.054,0:10:15.793
The dead then blend seamlessly[br]in with the landscape.

0:10:16.259,0:10:19.410
There's hope in conservation cemeteries.

0:10:20.091,0:10:24.913
They offer dedicated green space[br]in both urban and rural areas.

0:10:25.747,0:10:30.109
They offer a chance to reintroduce[br]native plants and animals to a region.

0:10:30.922,0:10:32.895
They offer public trails,

0:10:32.919,0:10:34.967
places for spiritual practice,

0:10:34.991,0:10:38.106
places for classes and events --

0:10:38.130,0:10:41.282
places where nature and mourning meet.

0:10:42.451,0:10:45.847
Most importantly,[br]they offer us, once again,

0:10:45.871,0:10:50.998
a chance to just decompose[br]in a hole in the ground.

0:10:51.966,0:10:53.355
The soil,

0:10:53.379,0:10:55.047
let me tell you,

0:10:55.071,0:10:56.600
has missed us.

0:10:57.155,0:10:59.187
I think for a lot of people,

0:10:59.211,0:11:00.808
they're starting to get the sense

0:11:00.832,0:11:05.141
that our current funeral industry[br]isn't really working for them.

0:11:06.298,0:11:07.488
For many of us,

0:11:07.512,0:11:11.923
being sanitized and beautified[br]just doesn't reflect us.

0:11:11.947,0:11:15.176
It doesn't reflect[br]what we stood for during our lives.

0:11:16.014,0:11:19.933
Will changing the way we bury our dead[br]solve climate change?

0:11:20.449,0:11:21.599
No.

0:11:22.052,0:11:24.077
But it will make bold moves

0:11:24.101,0:11:27.631
in how we see ourselves[br]as citizens of this planet.

0:11:28.654,0:11:33.262
If we can die in a way[br]that is more humble and self-aware,

0:11:33.286,0:11:35.786
I believe that we stand a chance.

0:11:36.232,0:11:37.476
Thank you.

0:11:37.500,0:11:40.741
(Applause)