Sara Moore | Science Editor
What happens when you die? Spiritually, no one really knows. Physically, your body is typically prepared for your eternal rest in the form of burial or cremation. According to the National Funeral Directors Association’s 2025 cremation and burial report, 63% of Americans are cremated, while 31% are buried. The same report shows that 61% of consumers have expressed interest in some form of “green” burial. Green burials have gained popularity in recent years as Americans grapple with their impact on the Earth, even after death.
Humans have been burying the dead for centuries, with the first cemetery dating back over 10,000 years ago. Prior to the 19th century, people were often buried in mass graves or individually wrapped in a shroud, placed in a wooden coffin and buried at home. During the Civil War, there were more dead bodies than could be buried at once, so a doctor named Thomas Holmes began embalming officers at the behest of Abraham Lincoln. After Lincoln’s assassination, his body was embalmed, which allowed it to be paraded across the country for three weeks without any signs of decomposition. This marked a shift in after-death care away from something that was done by the deceased’s family to a business conducted by professionals.
Embalming is a process where the human body is flushed of arterial blood and cavity fluids and replaced with a formaldehyde-based solution which temporarily stalls the decomposition process and gives the deceased a life-like appearance. Each year, Americans bury over 800,000 gallons of formaldehyde with their dead, which eventually leeches into the soil and groundwater as the body decomposes. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen, which makes it dangerous to work with, both in manufacturing and embalming, and its presence in the environment is harmful to plants and animals. Beyond the embalming process, other unnatural materials are introduced into the earth in traditional burial practices. Most cemeteries require the casket to be placed in a concrete liner to prevent the soil from caving in once decomposition occurs. About 1.6 million tons of concrete are buried each year in American cemeteries, in addition to the metal vaults the liners can be placed in. All of this makes it difficult for decomposition to occur, preventing the body’s nutrients from returning to the earth and wastes materials that could be better suited for something other than burial.
Cremation is not a great alternative to burial from an environmental standpoint. In order to cremate a human body, it must be burned at temperatures ranging from 1,400-1,600 degrees Fahrenheit, and the process can take over two hours depending on the size of the body. To maintain the proper temperature, natural gas or propane is used, which leads each cremation to release over 500 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, totaling over 360,000 metric tons every year. Human ashes also have a high pH and salt content, which can alter the soil’s chemistry if not properly distributed. These traditional burial and cremation processes are harmful to the environment, which have led some people to seek alternative options.
Green burials are not only better for the environment, but are also a more cost-efficient alternative to traditional burial practices. Rather than being embalmed, the body is refrigerated or chilled using dry ice. The body is then wrapped in a cloth shroud and sometimes buried in an untreated wood coffin. This allows the body to decompose faster and more easily than traditional burial and does not carry the same risks of chemical leeching. The body’s location is marked with a tree, wood marker or stone rather than a traditional granite or marble headstone. There are currently five cemeteries in Ohio that allow green burials, with many more across the country. Other “green” alternatives to traditional burial practices include alkaline hydrolysis (using water and alkali to break down remains), biodegradable urns, soil blending, coral reef placements and memorial tree programs. We spend our lives taking from the Earth, so in death, why not give ourselves in return by allowing our bodies to return the Earth from which we came.