On the occasions you are able to extract yourself from the bedlam of everyday life and immerse yourself in woodland or bracken-covered hills far from the sound of motor vehicles and blipping phones you will, if mindful of what is going on around you, likely notice that nonhuman life goes on without regard to human beings.
If in a woodland you will notice that the nectar seeking insects are self-intent and have no regard for you. The trees that have grown from seeds into tall, multi-branched, wide girth majestic beings will one day fall to the ground where they will decay and become part of the soil which sustains life. Visit an ancient woodland, even a moderately old one, and you will see flora in various stages of the life cycle all around you. The fallen, moss covered tree you happen to be sitting on might well have saplings growing out of it. By way of contrast humans are the only species who in death take from the earth and harm it rather than enrich it and thereby sustain life. We are the bio-world’s vandals and wreckers.
Take the average Irish funeral. When a person dies their body is injected with formaldehyde, a toxic chemical, in order to make them look as if they were not dead. They will be dressed in toxic clothes, placed in a brass handled, polyester-lined wood coffin with no inquiry likely made about where the wood and brass were sourced or where the coffin was manufactured. The deceased will have a religious service, perhaps attended by hundreds of people who will arrive and depart in their fossil fuel driven vehicles. Many will then drive to the place of burial which will once have been home to millions of microorganisms and part of a wider habitat. It will now be the site of life-killing leakages over a prolonged period of time. Marble headstone and curbs, transported by fossil fuel powered ships and lorries, will mark the grave upon which it is common for the grieving to lay artificial grass and flowers. These will have been made in a carbon-intensive manner, most likely in China, and transported by CO2 emitting vehicles.
Even if the dead are cremated there will be negative ecological consequences with the release of global warming gases and other pollutants which have a serious adverse effect upon the climate and biosphere. The mercury in dental fillings will be sent into the atmosphere and from there find their way into the food chain.
This is not the full tally of the ecological cost of the average Irish funeral. It is common that after the burial or cremation the mourners will gather in a community hall where lunch will be served which is usually sandwiches, cakes and biscuits along with a choice of tea, coffee or a sweet drink. Inevitably meat and diary produce will be an integral part of the lunch which could well be accompanied by a supply of plastic utensils. The production of meat and dairy is a significant source of global warming emissions, water pollution, loss of biodiversity and in some cases animal suffering.
Whilst death in nonhuman nature brings forth life, as in the Thunderbird or Phoenix of the mythology of indigenous North American people, the modern-day funeral brings death to other life forms and through degrading the biosphere harms human life itself.
Part of the irony of this lies in that the average Irish funeral is a profound religious event. Before death the hope of the deceased will likely have been that when they die they will be welcomed into Heaven where they will reside for eternity in the presence of God and family and friends who died before them. In the light of how most funerals are conducted this is akin to wanting to be invited to a garden party after you have trashed the host’s garden and smashed up their much-loved vintage car.
The expectation of being welcomed by the Creator after trashing their handiwork highlights the monumental disconnect between human society and the natural world we are a part of. If we foresee ourselves having a modern Irish funeral then our death will diminish the effectiveness of the processes that sustain life.
Fortunately cultural traditions change, even the most hallowed ones, such as how the dead are treated and funerals conducted. To avoid our death begetting death we can leave written instructions asking that our remains not be injected with formaldehyde, that we be dressed in worn clothes made of natural fibers. If there are none in your wardrobe they can be purchased for a reasonable price from a charity shop.
We are not obliged to be put in a wood coffin, or a coffin at all. We can simply be wrapped in a shroud; a well-worn cotton bedsheet would do. After we have been lowered into the ground there is no need to enclose the site with marble curbs and a headstone and the enclosure filled with decorative stones or adorned with artificial grass. A fruit tree can mark the site instead.
Those wishing to attend the funeral can be asked to car share, travel by bus, cycle or walk. The lunch in the community hall can be vegan, free of plastic utensils and paper napkins. The life of a tree can be saved, along with all the creatures that depend on it, through pinning the order of service on a notice board and writing the memorial on the back of used paper.
A life-affirming funeral rather that the dominant mode of present-day funerals is the one that is more rooted in tradition. A hundred years ago there would for instance have been no plastic utensils, paper napkins, individual order of service cards and very few of the mourners would have had a car to travel to and from a funeral. Further, a life-affirming funeral is by far the least expensive and therefore could be your last act of love for your next of kin.
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