The idea behind Who Won the Week is to give you the opportunity to select who (or what) you think “won” this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies, TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.
This week’s recipient of Who Won the Week recipient is not a who, but a what. It’s green burials. Green burials, also referred to as human composting, or natural organic reduction, is an environmentally friendly type of burial. And California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, recently signed into law a bill allowing human composting.
Natural organic reduction is an alternative to conventional burial and cremation. It offers less of an environmental impact. In general, it avoids direct use of fossil fuels like in cremation and takes up less space than conventional burial. It also avoids the use of materials like concrete and non-biodegradable caskets often used in conventional burial. Cremation, which accounts for more than half of “burials” in the state, is an energy-intensive process that emits chemicals such as CO2 into the air. Through a green burial, the body is naturally broken down into soil.
The process involves placing the deceased in an 8ft-long steel box with biodegradable materials such as wood chips and flowers. After 30 to 60 days, the body breaks down into soil that can be returned to relatives.
Of course, the California Catholic Conference opposes natural organic reduction, saying the composting process “reduces the human body to simply a disposable commodity.” Well, yeah. Whether you bury the body or cremating it, you’re disposing of the body, aren’t you? I thought the Church was focused more on the soul than on the body.
I, for one, am going to change my death directive from from cremation to natural organic reduction.
So who (or what) do you think won the week?
If you want to participate, write your own post designating who you think won the week and why you think they deserve your nod. Then link back to this post and tag you post with FWWTW.
This, That, and the Other 
I like the idea of a “green” burial very much. From what I heard the cost is about 5 thousand dollars which is much greater than cremation. I would love to have my remains go into a garden.
It’s definitely worth looking in to.
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That sounds interesting! Haven’t heard of it before…
Who won the week? The Crimean bridge blower-uppers. Happy birthday, Vlad!
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Nice one Paula……
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Thank you 🙂
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They have a place in Georgia where you get wrapped and buried and a tree is planted
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I’ve heard of this before……
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That IS a good one. I’d also say Biden is a winner for pardoning people who are in prison for only marijuana possession.
When my dad was buried, we had a casket. But the funeral home (processor of bodies, sellers of various containers, renters of rooms) said the Catholic Church doesn’t require the concrete thing (I don’t remember the fitting word); they were not specifically Catholic but do have to be appropriately aware. I didn’t ask, and I don’t know if that can be decided by a local diocese (a bishop or a cardinal) or if it’s from the pope. But I think they used to require it. They also, now, allow for cremation. But my dad didn’t want to be cremated; pretty sure this was to honor his mother’s memory. And, since I’ve always thought personally that it would be fine to just be buried under a tree (in a pine box if legally necessary), I went with no concrete thing. A wood casket, even if expensive (like carved cherry or oak instead of non-carved pine), will end up with the body being composted… pretty sure.
It’s interesting that it only takes 30-60 days. {Obviously, it is likely to take longer for the microbes to get through the wood of a casket.}
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I am to be cremated and imagine a lot sooner than you. But this green thing is not something I want to pose on my family
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I would venture a guess that I’m older than you, Cheryl. I’ve talked with my family and they are all for me going the natural organic reduction route.
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Not hardly. This is my 76th year in September
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My 76th year started in April this year.
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No way! I thought you were my sons age🙄😳😂😂😂
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Only if your son is your age! 😏
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My oldest son turned 55 in April this year
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Well happy birthday late🥳
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To you as well.
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It’s the Islamic way to bury the body wrapped in a piece of unstitched cloth only. The body decomposes quickly.
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I like the idea. Can I have sweet peas scattered over me? My favourite flower…..
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I like this, I can be dug into the veggie patch. Now this one might be a tad controversial but I’m going with my local MP. He’s finally managed to secure funding for a roundabout at the top of our road. A terrible black spot where multiple fatalities have occured
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That is an interesting idea. I don’t think it’s legal (yet) in this state. But then again, we have NO plans for what to do with our bodies because we have no money for burial. But I figure they’ll have to do something and anyway, Garry is a vet, so I think they take care of him (and probably me, too).
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I think California is the fifth state to legalize the practice, following Colorado, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. I read it costs from $3-5,000.
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thats really interesting! I’d never heard of this type of burial before reading this!
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I really like this idea… return the body to, literally, become the earth.
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