Humankind was created from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7) and that’s what we’ll be after our death (Genesis 3:19).
Now there’s a growing unbiblical movement to use human remains to supposedly fight climate change.
Human Compost
California recently became the fifth state to allow non-embalmed human cadavers to be converted into compost to grow plants, flowers, and trees. The law, which takes effect in 2027, also allows the human compost to be used to grow food for human consumption. In contrast, the Colorado law does not allow human compost to be used to grow food for human consumption.
Not surprisingly, Washington became the first state to pass such a law in 2019, followed by Oregon, Vermont, and Colorado. A similar bill is awaiting New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s signature. Massachusetts is expected to soon join the list of states that allow the practice.
Known as “natural organic reduction (NOR),” creating human compost is rapidly growing in popularity. Recompose, a Seattle-based pioneer in developing NOR, outlines how the process works. They refer to it as the “carbon cycle.” Their homepage advertises, “A full-service funeral home specializing in human composting.”
According to Recompose, upon a “client’s” death, they conduct a “laying-in” ceremony similar to a traditional funeral service. The body is then placed in a specially designed steel vessel and covered with natural materials, such as wood chips, hay, and alfalfa.
Recompose’s website states, “controlling the ratio of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and moisture creates the perfect environment for microbes and beneficial bacteria to thrive” and “gently convert human remains into one cubic yard of nutrient-dense soil.” Non-organic matter, such as dental implants, are sorted out.
Not everyone is eligible for human composting. Recompose claims that NOR destroys most harmful pathogens, but there are three diseases that disqualify a person from undergoing the process: Ebola, tuberculosis, and diseases caused by prions, which are abnormal, transmissible pathogenic agents that cause brain damage.
California lawmaker Cristina Garcia, who authored the state’s law, said, “I look forward to continuing my legacy to fight for clean air by using my reduced remains to plant a tree.”
Return Home, one of the Washington and Oregon providers of “terramation” (another term for human composting) claims, “It takes about 60 days for our process to complete. The first 30 days is when the body makes its transformation into soil, with an additional 30 days being added as a resting period.”
What process do they propose to speed the decomposition of bones and teeth to meet this timetable? We know that purely natural decomposition leaves bones and teeth for archeologists and cold case crime solvers to discover many years after death even hundreds of years later.
Recompose’s founder and CEO Katrina Spade, published that they have turned more than 200 people into compost and have 1,200 clients signed up to make monthly payments toward the final cost. She added that NOR attracts people under 49 because of their concern about climate change and the environment in general.
She described NOR as, “the same process happening on the forest floor as leaf litter, chipmunks, and tree branches decompose and turn into topsoil.”
What Should the Christian Response Be?
Treating human remains like leaf litter and dead chipmunks, disrespects God who made us in His image and likeness.
Christian pro-life advocates need to reject this latest new-age fad and stand for the respectful treatment, in life and death, of each person God has created (I Corinthians 3:16, Philippians 1:20).
Sources: eppc.org; recompose.life; cnn.com; bissiziz.com; theverge.com; returnhome.com; axios.com; christionpost.com; umass.edu.
By Wayne DuBois
Georgia Right to Life
Media Relations Advisor