Since their humble beginnings in North Africa and West Asia 10-15,000 years ago, cemeteries have been engrained into the traditions, architecture and daily lives of civilisations all over the world. Graveyards are a staple of many cultures around the globe and have only just recently become unwelcoming, morbid places bound to the stigma of sorrow, loss and pain as throughout most of history, Cemeteries were beautiful, lively places consisting of lushly landscaped gardens, where large crowds of happy people would gather to partake in enjoyable activities. For example, in Medieval European cities, Christian churchyards offered rare, open spaces that primarily accommodated the dead but were also a place where the locals hosted markets, fetes and other events. As named graves became more accessible to the middle and lower classes, people began to visit graveyards often for not just funerals but also anniversaries, holidays and evenings out. However, as cities grew during the industrial revolution, large suburban cemeteries replaced smaller urban churchyards and around the 19th century, more parks and gardens were built, meaning cemeteries began to lose visitors and slowly became desolate places. Some cemeteries around the world are now trying to lure people back with tours, concerts and other attractions in an attempt to elevate cemeteries to their former glory as popular staples of society… but are communal burials really a necessary, inherently positive practice?
As the years go by, communal burial grounds aren’t only just becoming increasingly desolate but are also rapidly becoming huge problems for humanity by finally revealing their many negative attributes. One of which is that they permanently take up incredible amounts of space which then cannot be used for farming, building or expansion. A lack of land is a serious issue for many countries all over the world, suggesting cemeteries are hindering the progression of many societies. According to Dobscha, if you added up the entire square footage of all the cemeteries in the US, it would measure 1 million acres of land. On top of this, burials are inherently toxic for the environment due to the embalming process, where the body is pumped full of formaldehyde, phenol, methanol and glycerine. This toxic, chemical cocktail inevitably seeps into the Earth, polluting the area of land surrounding the body, an area of land that already requires an ungodly amount of water, chemical fertilizers and pesticides to maintain, which eventually seep into water supplies and harm local wildlife. According to an article published in the Berkeley Planning Journal, every year in the US, more than 800,000 gallons of formaldehyde are dumped into the earth during burials, that’s enough to fill one and a quarter Olympic-sized swimming pools each year. To top it all off, a lot of materials are used in the burying process. According to the Berkeley Planning Journal, conventional burials in the US use 4 million acres of forest worth of casket wood every year, which could otherwise build about 4.5 million homes… and that’s not including the use of other materials such as copper, bronze and steel. Hence why people are now happily exploring new, more sustainable processes which avoid burial completely.
For those who would still like to be buried, there is now the option to forego embalming altogether and to be buried in a biodegradable casket made of materials such as bamboo, cardboard, wool, banana leaf or willow. Some other more interesting, green forms of burial include encasing your body into a pod that will eventually sprout into a strong, glorious tree or sealing your ashes in a concrete ball that will plunge to the bottom of the ocean to feed coral reefs. If you’re looking for a more exciting alternative, there are now more adventurous options such as having your remains turned into fireworks, jewellery or even tattoo ink. If you feel so inclined, you can now even have your remains sent to space! Regardless of whether you’d prefer your remains to sprout a young sapling, feed a coral reef or be sent to the stars, one fact is clear, cemeteries and traditional burials are on their way out, which is undeniably a good thing for the environment and humanity as a whole going forwards
Article by a Young Reporter
First published in Grimsby Telegraph December 2021