The only thing certain about life is that it will end. The issue, however, arises after it ends. The body of the deceased is generally either cremated or buried in India as in many other countries. The rituals are highly honoured and there are many sentiments associated with them.
Recent studies, however, have shown that both the options have downsides. In an article recently published in a web portal, Truth Activist.com, by Amanda Froliech, both the methods affect the environment dangerously.
While cremation, which is burning the deceased is burned in around 1,800 degrees, it releases into air elements like soot, carbon monoxide, and trace metals like mercury. It also needs gallons of fuel and it in turn releases a huge amount of carbon dioxide.
According to an American company, Funeral Consumers Alliance, 246,240 tons of carbon dioxide is released into the air due to cremation, which is equivalent of 41,040 cars.
Burial, on the other hand, isn’t very safe either. The body is injected with formaldehyde, methanol and other solvents after the blood is drained from the body. It rapidly reduces the rate of decay. The slow decomposition allows the toxic chemicals injected to leach into the Earth.
As both are not the most efficient solutions and we all want to leave a safer environment for the next generation, designers Jae Rhim Lee and Mike Ma has come up with an ‘Infinity Burial Suit’. It is essentially a body suit that to be worn after death.
According to the inventors, it “cleanses the body of toxins before returning to nature.”
Our body is full of toxins and they need to get rid off before sending back to the earth. Studies say that the average human body is riddled with hundreds of toxic pollutants, including pesticides, preservatives, and heavy metals like mercury and lead.
They could cause much more harm to the soil and ground water, wherever they go.
The solution is provided by nature itself. It is mushrooms. Lee explains, she had tested various types of mushrooms – which are known to clean up toxic environments – by feeding them her own hair, skin, and nails and she selected the ones that best-consumed scraps of her body. She used those varieties to develop a suit that basically eats the individual inside it, leaving behind clean, pollutant-free compost.
“I was inspired by the idea that mushrooms are the master decomposers of Earth and thereby the interface organisms between life and death,” Lee told media.
The Infinity Burial Suit will soon be available on the market, and is estimated to cost $1,000 – $1,500.
As efficient as this suit is, it is true that in India it would be hard to come to terms with science regarding this matter.
But who knows, may be your last step to leave a healthier earth for your loved ones would be the best one.
