When talking to death curious folx I constantly hear the phrase “I want to be a tree when I die!” In fact, according to one Choice Mutual survey, “one in 10 Americans who plan to be cremated want to be planted as a tree.”
With the continuing rise in interest about greener funeral options in the US, it’s no wonder that many people dream about having their remains provide sustenance for plants and ecosystems long after their death. According to a survey from Kates Boylston Publications, environmentally friendly funerals/burials are extremely or very important to 68.2% of funeral planners. That’s a huge portion of today’s death planners.
While the idea of having your remains give life to a tree is a beautiful one, it might be a bit more difficult to execute in reality than most folx realize. We’ve done the research, and have all of the information you need to answer the question: Can I really become a tree when I die?
Trees and Full Body Burial
It’s such a lovely thought to imagine one’s body being buried beneath a new tree and directly feeding that tree nutrients. However, the science around planting a new tree properly, and the way that human bodies decompose aren’t very compatible. Here are four reasons why burying a body under a new tree won’t work:
1) Water
it takes a huge amount of water to plant a new tree, which would water-log a human body and disturb a green burial site. Burial depth for a green burial is only 3-4 feet… about the same depth that most tree’s root balls would need to go. In a video from TalkDeath, Mel Bennett of Life Forest explains why burying a body directly underneath a new tree isn’t the best idea:
“You would have to completely fill that burial hole with water. In order to plant that tree, you’d have to water the tree and place that root ball in a giant hole of water [which is also where the body would be in this scenario]. […] I can tell you that watching a hand or other body part of your loved one bob or float to the top of a water filled hole in the ground wouldn’t be pleasant [and would make a proper burial nearly impossible].”
2) Roots
Another section of the same video elaborates: “If you’re planting a young tree that needs to establish a root system, you could end up with those roots disturbing the area where the body is buried and over time you may end up getting bones pushed up out of the ground, just by the nature of the tree growing.”
3) Land Consumption
Additionally, the space and land it would take for trees to be planted on top of whole body burials would quickly become an issue. Mel Bennet continues to explain that
“When you’re talking about planting a tree that will eventually become 20 feet around and 20 feet high, you have to have a lot of acreage and a lot of dedication to that space. We need to have 30 feet between all of these trees, at least. The burial density that could happen with a full body burial under every tree… what we would need to even be able to sustain that space… I mean, it’s probably close to $25,000 [per burial]. And you have to do it in a way that’s natural [and complies with certain legalities and factors like cross pollination] and you can’t do that without a plan, and it would be so easy to disrupt the local environment because we see ecological changes every time we do something like this.”
4) Decomposition
Finally, the human body needs to go through the decomposition process in order to break down into elements that would actually be good for the environment. If the burial site were disrupted by water, and a tree’s root ball, that decomposition process might not happen properly. So, it’s clear that attempting to plant a tree on top of a body at a green burial site will not only not nourish that tree, but would disrupt the burial and natural decomposition process of the body itself, inhibiting nutrients contained in the human body from efficiently reaching the environment.
Cremation and Tree Burial
There is a common misconception that one can be cremated, then have the cremated remains buried beneath a tree to nourish it as it grows. However, that’s not the case. There is one main reason why cremated remains can’t “nourish” a tree (or any other plant): Alkalinity.
Cremains are extremely high in alkalinity and concentrated minerals like calcium, which creates PH imbalances and an extremely salty environment in the soil. Burying an entire set of human cremains then planting a tree on top of them wouldn’t nourish that tree, but would actually be detrimental to its life.
In an interview with the Death Curious podcast (originally called the Deathcare Decoded podcast), Mel Bennet explains exactly why cremated remains are toxic to trees, and how Life Forest conducted research to figure out a way to bury cremated remains and use trees as memorial markers in a healthy, environmentally friendly way:
“We didn’t know if ashes were good for trees… turns out they aren’t! What cremains have after a flame cremation process is a high PH/high alkaline state, and that causes a salty environment for the tree. You wouldn’t drink a glass of super salty water, and you wouldn’t water your plants with super salty water, so if you place these cremated remains within the proximity of tree roots, it’s going to hurt the tree. It would be like watering that tree with salt water every time it rains, and the alkalinity can affect the soil all around the tree. And then, it will ultimately dry out the tree roots. I realized, this isn’t so good if I want to have a tree cemetery…
We needed to figure out how we were going to protect the trees from the ashes. We approached Dr. Aaron Collins, an environmentalist that works at Southern New Hampshire University, and discussed how we would work with the PH balance of the cremains that pollutes the soil and dries out the tree. Then we found out that they sell products that you can integrate with the cremated remains to try to neutralize the PH, but when we started working with the Department of Environmental Services, they were very concerned about us using those products because a lot of them were proprietary (so they don’t actually list out ingredients) and that meant that the DoES didn’t know about how safe they were for our staff or the soil they would be put into. In essence, you’d be adding another thing into the environment to be monitored. Dr. Collins’ suggestion was to make sure that there is a buffer between the cremated remains and the trees themselves. So we bury the cremated remains inside a buffer material, and we have to bury them at least 18 inches away from the root ball of the tree, so that they won’t connect. Basically, the cremated remains will never touch the tree. That’s what makes it possible.
It’s tough because there is something heartwarming about the idea that the cremated remains are nourishing the tree, or that they are somehow becoming the tree, and I understand that desire […] but we don’t want to have the presentation of feeding trees with cremains when that’s really not the case. It’s not fair to say. So we make sure we really stick to the task and say that your tree is your memorial marker. That’s what it is. It’s a beautiful growing living memorial that makes death have a comma instead of a period.”
Better Funeral Options for Nourishing Trees
“Become a Tree” with Green Burial
If you want to find a way for the nutrients held in your body to nourish the earth and plant life after you’re gone, an excellent option is a green burial at a site near established trees. Similarly, opting for a green burial and choosing to plant non-invasive smaller plant species as markers near your gravesite is a real way to have your body eventually nourish plant life. An article from TalkDeath elaborates:
Natural burials are typically dug at a depth of 3-4 feet and can be done in smaller spaces, such as between large tree root systems. Alternatively, natural burials may be commemorated by planting small shrubs or wildflowers nearby. A key goal of natural burial is to disturb the environment as little as possible and to work with the land as it is; planting a [new] tree in a heavily wooded area will only disrupt the flora and fauna.”
Green burial is a cleaner burial alternative to traditional burial with embalming, which uses no embalming chemicals, minimal natural resources, and is designed to have minimal impact on the environment in areas like land usage and carbon footprint. The Green Burial Council is a non-profit organization with a mission to inspire and advocate for environmentally sustainable, natural death care through education and certification. According to the GBC’s website, the official criteria for a green burial is as follows:
- Caring for the dead with minimal environmental impact that aids in the conservation of natural resources
- Reduction of carbon emissions
- Protection of worker health
- Restoration and/or preservation of habitat
In a green burial, your body would decompose naturally, returning valuable nutrients to the local soil and plant life. While burying whole bodies directly underneath a new tree is not recommended, many green burial cemeteries have forests and trees in the near vicinity of green burial sites, which draw nutrients from the surrounding area.
“Become a Tree” with Natural Organic Reduction
Another very real and effective way to have your remains nourish the earth after your death is Natural Organic Reduction (NOR), or “body composting.” Organizations like Return Home and Recompose offer beautiful NOR services which result in stable, clean, compost that’s ready to be put directly into nature, and which will truly provide nourishment to the environment.
Since the soil from human composting doesn’t contain human DNA anymore, and doesn’t contain significant levels of toxins or heavy metals, NOR poses no threat of land pollution or toxicity. According to Recompose‘s website, the company tests their compost soil for fecal coliform, arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, and selenium, and results in levels which all consistently meet guidelines set by the state of Washington. In fact, compost is not only free from heavy metals and harmful toxins, but is chock full of healthy nutrients for soil and plant life. Compost from the human NOR process is good for the environment in which it is spread, and helps enrich soil for vegetation and animals.
While NOR does initially take place inside a facility, the process is only accelerating what would happen over time in a green burial, and results in a large amount of nutrient dense compost that is good for the environment. Choosing this process instead of a green burial does allow for a human body’s nutrients to go directly to an existing tree, or to be involved in the burial of a new one. Plus, the process is nearly carbon neutral, so this makes NOR an excellent choice for people interested in “becoming a tree” who truly care about the eco-impact of their death and funeral plans.
“Become a Tree” (kind of) with Cremation
There are two ways to sustainably and safely involve trees in your body disposition plans when cremation is your chosen method: The Bio Urn and Planting System by the Living Urn company, or choosing burial of the cremains and a tree as a memorial marker with Life Forest.
The Bio Urn and planting system by The Living Urn company is a system that involves a hand-made wooden urn, constructed using heat and cooling processes instead of glues and resins, and a proprietary blend of PH balancing root protector that gets added to the soil that the cremains will be buried in. The Living Urn has done their homework when it comes to soil health, alkalinity, and cremated remains. When followed exactly, their system provides a real way to grow a tree from the same soil that cremated remains are in. However, the cremated remains still are not “nourishing” the tree, and, as mentioned in Mel Bennett’s interview above, since the ingredients of the proprietary root protection blend aren’t listed, it’s unclear how safe they are for human skin, and the wider ecosystem in a given place.
Life Forest, Mel Bennett’s company, is a nonprofit conservation cemetery in New Hampshire that offers legal permanent placement for cremated remains with trees as memorial markers. Life Forest is natural conservation land, and provides a certificate of interment rights and exact GPS coordinates of the deceased’s burial location to every family. According to their website, “Life Forest® Burial Plot Data is legally recorded with the Hillsborough County Registry of Deeds. All names of burials as well as Interment rights are recorded and protected here.”
One of factors that makes Life Forest such a wonderful option are that they are a legal cemetery and nature preserve, so families choosing cremation get the added benefit of legally recorded burial sites, and the comfort of knowing that their loved ones’ graves will never be disturbed. Second, the immense amount of environmental research and due diligence that has gone into the company’s strategies and processes is astounding. The company works hard to make sure that the natural habitat of their forest is preserved with a minimal impact from each tree planting.
Both The Living Urn and Life Forest are excellent choices for families that choose cremation and want to involve a tree in funeral plans in a way that will actually be healthy for that tree and the wider environment.
The Need for More Education about Real Eco Funeral Options
One of the most important aspects of Life Forest is their policy of being honest and transparent about the fact that the trees they plant are memorial markers, and are not “growing from” the cremated remains. Their integrity in making sure that families are well educated about the reality of their process is refreshing, and sets the organization apart from many other death care experiences. Mel Bennet elaborates,
“And sometimes it actually hurts my heart when we have families that come to us and talk about how wonderful it is that a loved one’s ashes will feed a tree, and I have to tell them “well the tree is there to memorialize, absolutely, but the person won’t actually feed the tree.” But, you know it’s important in all that we do [in death care], you have to look at it and treat it as what it really is, so that people actually understand what they are getting into.”
All of the misinformation around human remains and growing trees sheds a spotlight on just how important transparency and real education around death care options is. On episode 15 of the Deathcare Decoded podcast (before it was rebranded to the Death Curious podcast!) Jody Herrington, General Manager at Northstar Memorial Group, and former Location Manager at Chapel of the Chimes Oakland, shared her insights about the need for better education about eco-friendly funeral options;
“The first step to more ecologically friendly funerals is educating the families that we (funeral professionals) serve. So many times families come into our funeral homes and say “I don’t know what to do…” And we are doing a disservice to not only that family, but the ecosphere in general, by just saying to them “Your options are traditional burial or cremation”. That doesn’t serve or educate that family about what’s best for them. Maybe that family cares deeply about sustainability, or maybe a [family member] was a botanist or ecologist… you never know what the full story is, but the conversation of having more than just these basic options certainly is the first step in creating a sustainable funeral industry (sustainable, ecologically speaking). So many families really find meaning in options like an eco-shroud, or a willow or bamboo sustainable casket, and of course there are all of the people that always say “I want to be a tree!!!” but without those deeper conversations, and proper education from funeral homes, many of them won’t know what eco-options are actually out there and available.”
Perspectives like Jody’s and Mel’s make two things very clear 1) there are an abundance of families out there who value and want more eco-friendly funeral options and 2) many folx need more education from funeral professionals about which eco-friendly funeral options exist and are available. When there is a lack of education from funeral homes and funeral professionals, people seeking eco-funeral options will turn to the internet, which is a large and wild place, full of misinformation. This is how misinformation around things like the Capsula Mundi tree pod, tree burials, and the Infinity mushroom burial suit become widespread.
Many of us want to reduce our carbon footprint while we are alive, so it makes sense that lots of people also want to make their funeral plans as eco-friendly as possible too. In order to do that, the public must be well educated on real eco death options. While it’s not a very realistic option to “become a tree,” when you die, natural organic reduction, green burial, and some eco-urns allow us to get very close to that beautiful green dream.
