BY: TED BARNABY
Most of us at one point or another have debated our own burial ceremony. Do we want to go six feet under, or be burned and set off into the atmosphere in a cloud of black smoke? But how many of us have considered what that cloud of smoke might mean for the livelihood of our atmosphere, or even, what our post-funeral formaldehyde soaked bodies might mean to the Earth? If you haven’t—fair enough, neither had most of us. I suppose when you think about death, the first thing that comes to mind usually isn’t your body’s insidious plan to sabotage and pollute the earth. Luckily, we have Jae Rhim Lee to consider these things for us.
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According to Lee and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), our body is composed of 219 toxic pollutants, which are released back into the earth and atmosphere during burial and cremation. Five thousand pounds of mercury is released into the atmosphere each year alone from the cremation of our dental fillings. So how do we save the earth from corpse pollution? Lee’s solution is simple: dress up our dead in full body suits covered in mushroom spores, allowing the fungi to digest and decompose our bodies toxic material.
At first the prospect of allowing your corpse to be eaten by mushrooms sounds like a disgusting and undesirable way to leave this earth—but I’d rather be the dinner of mushrooms than the dinner of maggots. Besides, when you die, you might as well do it responsibly.
The mushroom suit method of burial begins by replacing the bodily fluids of the dead with an eco-friendly alternative to formaldehyde—“liquid spore slurry”— a liquid concoction, which proliferates the growth of mushrooms. Next, the body is covered in “Decompiculture Makeup”, which essentially just means makeup that is rich in dried mushroom spores. Lastly, the body is put into the mushroom suit, which reacts with the spores and allows mushrooms to actually grow and decompose the body.
Lee grew her first batch of human-fed mushrooms, using her own hair, nails and dead skin particles. A few months later, and Lee’s personal brand of gourmet mushrooms can be found in every Whole Foods Location across North America.
Just kidding.
But the mushrooms did grow successfully, marking an important first step in Lee’s mission to re-design our burial practices. She’s currently running experiments on old meat, and has received a few volunteers who are willing to donate their bodies to the cause. Lee dreams of using her innovative mushroom suit technology not only to change the way we dispose of our bodies, but moreover, to change the way we think about death.
Watch Jae Rhim Lee’s TED talk on the topic.
