Conscious Crossings

· Considerations: embalming option– formalin: carcinogenic and contaminates soil (eventually), casket (metal, wood, synthetic fabric), grave liners (metal, concrete, fibreglass), machinery nec for digging 6 feet, closing grave, maintenance of lawn with pesticides and fertilizers, markers, each burial approx.. 1,836 lbs of CO2 emitted

· Body never (very long time) returns to soil

2. Cremation. Costs $1,800-$3,000 (without inurnment)

· Feb of 2023 Canada 50% cremation, BC is 76%

· Retort temp 760-980 degrees Celsius, for approx. 2 hrs, emitting 535 lbs CO2 = to driving 980 km

· Using fossil fuels – gas

· Organic matter destroyed leaving bone (calcium and sodium), metal (removed and recycled),

· Mechanical implants(battery) must be removed prior – medical waste

· Mechanical reduction of bone to small particles

3. Natural/conservation burial

Five principles: no embalming

Direct earth burial

Ecological restoration

Simple memorialization

Optimized land use/conservation/restoration

· 3-3.5 feet deep opposed to 6 feet, offers optimal bio environment for return to earth

· On Van Island Salt Spring, Denman (private community), Royal Oak(Victoria), Elk Falls, Cumberland, Quadra and Salt Spring Island. (ask bylaws of cemeteries ***)

Options not available in BC

4. Alkaline Hydrolysis (resomation, aquamation, bio cremation) cost $4-5,000 out of province – transfer can be expensive and is additional to above costs. (Ontario, Saskatchewan, Quebec, as well as Newfoundland and Labrador)

· Legal for pets in BC

· Use of H2O and hydroxide, 300 degrees F

· Body is placed in a metal mesh basket, dissolves all soft tissue, left with bone and all implants, recycled, reuse?? Possibly in the future

· 1/12 of energy of fire cremation

· Petitioning CPBC since 2012, waiting for approval

· www.aquamationbc.ca

5. Natural Organic Reduction (NOR, terramation, recompose) Cost approx. $10,000

· 2011 Katrina Spade, working on her masters in Architecture, began thinking of her own death and options, animals on farms have been composted for decades.

· In 2013 she completed her thesis “Of Dirt and Decomposition, proposing a place for Urban Dead”

· 2014 began the Urban Death Project *this is when I started following her journey

· 2015 Kickstarter

· 2016 Ted Talk “When I die Recompose me”

· 2017 Recompose founded

· 2018 Pilot study with 6 donor bodies and began pursuing legalization

· 2019 signed into law in Washington State (NOR)

· 2019 Recompose Seattle, opened in Dec of 2020

· Spring 2021 Colorado

· Summer 2021 Oregon

· Spring 2022 Vermont

· Fall 2022 California

· Dec 2022 New York

· May 2023 Nevada

· April 2024 Arizona

Return Home, Auburn WA, began serving Canadians in Jan 2022

· Process developed by an Abbotsford soil scientist, John Paul – expert in animal mortality and compost, protecting water tables and CO2 emissions

· 2-month process

· Funeral homes in BC, Earth’s Option in Victoria and Koru in Vancouver but ask any funeral provider to serve in this manner.

Petition in BC for NOR

· Visit www.norbc.ca

Resources

Green Burial: www.greenburialcouncil.org www.greenburialcanada.ca

Evergreen Coffins/Shrouds https://www.evergreencoffins.com/evergreen-shrouds

Royal Oak Burial Park www.royaloakburialpark.ca

Salt Spring Natural Cemetery www.saltspringcemetery.ca

Conservation Burial Alliance : https://www.conservationburialalliance.org/

resources

Comox Valley

Local Funeral Homes

On-line Resources

Disposition and Green Burial in B.C. April 23rd

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