Environmental Responsibility After Life

The environmentally degrading effects of supporting the 7 billion people that this planet is home to have been widely studied. Not only are the resources needed to sustain present human life becoming scarce and hard to come by, but the human degradation of the environment is magnified to detrimental levels. However, this is only half of the problem. The overpopulation issue is one that our society will always be handling the ramifications of; the problem will not go away as the third-world develops or the baby boomer generation dies. In the U.S. alone, more than 76 million people are projected to reach the average life expectancy by 2042 . The resources needed to support and the environmental consequences of supporting the dead are arguably comparable to that of the living.

Modern day traditional funeral practices have many environmentally impactful aspects. Land use and deforestation for cemeteries and burial grounds are of a significant level of concern. Natural places are being altered, destroying habitats and disrupting food-chain and living dynamics, as is the case in most all human-made infrastructure development. Traditional burial is still the leading disposition method, however there are environmentally sound methods of burial that conserve land. These practices that retain the natural beauty of the land include burial preserves, conservation burial grounds, and eco-cemeteries