What will you be ...

When you're dead?

Do you remember asking yourself: “What do I want to be when I grow up?”

I’ve been “grown up” for decades, and I’m still asking that question. New versions, of course, but they feel just as big as ever.

The latest is this: What do I want to be when I’m dead?

My body that is. When it’s a corpse.

That sounds like a question with an easy answer – isn’t that what funeral homes are for?

But I don’t like the usual options.

I don’t want to be injected with toxic chemicals, placed in a wooden or metal box, then sealed inside a concrete vault in a manicured cemetery at the cost of a lot of money and a heavy carbon footprint.

Years ago, I decided that cremation would solve that problem – only to learn that cremation takes its own environmental toll.

I was especially sad to learn that human ashes aren’t good for plants – and that simply scattering untreated ashes might even kill them.

Help!

I’ll never claim perfection, but as I learn more about our climate crisis, I try to live a greener life.

Why can’t I embrace that value when I die?

Why can’t I have a green death or at least one greener than the death care many funeral homes have offered?

Fortunately, I’m not alone in asking that question. And I’ve learned there are good choices for greener death care.

I’ve also learned that an increasing number of funeral directors and organizations are helping people find earth-friendly options for death care.

I want to explore those choices and find one that will work for me. I hope you do, too.

But first, we need to talk about it.

We need to be willing to have conversations with family and friends that can feel risky and hard. After all, they are the people we will depend on to carry out our plans.

Those are big challenges. But the stories I hear about people who choose a green death tell me it’s worth the effort.

For one thing, our burial habits harm the environment and are also increasingly difficult to sustain.

Around the world, cities are running out of space for traditional cemeteries and even repositories for cremated remains.

But there’s a personal reason as well. Facing hard questions like death – and what we want our bodies to become – is good for us. It helps us see the bigger picture and how we fit into it.

When we discuss these deeply personal questions with people we care about, our bonds grow stronger as the air clears of unspoken worries and fears.

I’ve thought about what I want done with my body, but I don’t have a detailed plan.

And yet, I’m beginning to get an answer to my big question: What do I want my body to be when I die?

I want it to be a resource, not a toxic waste. For me, that’s part of ending well.

Join me in the coming weeks as we explore old and new ways of returning our bodies to the earth.