INTERVIEW: How Human Composting Becomes Law

Death in the Afternoon

Caitlin Doughty

Education, Society & Culture

5 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2022

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Episode Description

Our future corpses have more options than ever, with eco-friendly processes like aquamation and composting being legalized across the U.S. and Canada. Find out the nitty-gritty truths on what goes into making these death alternatives a reality where you live.

Host, Caitlin Doughty talks to Recompose founder, Katrina Spade who has been the driving force behind legalization efforts, and Order of the Good Death Executive Director, Sarah Chavez.

Episode Resources

Stay up to date with efforts to legalize composting in your state

By signing up for the Recompose newsletter. (https://recompose.life/who-we-are/#public-policy)

Learn more about the composting in the Order’s Resource guide.

Episode Credits:

Hosted by Caitlin Doughty

Produced by the Order of the Good Death: Sarah Chavez and Lauren Ronaghan

Edited by Alex de Freitas

Music by Kissed Her Little Sister

Podcast artwork by Jessica Peng

The Order of the Good Death (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com) Is supported by listeners like you. Support the Order by becoming a member (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/donate?)

Transcript

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0:00.0	I let my ambition and my excitement about the movement drive the public policy
0:06.1	piece and the goal is to make it available wherever people want it. I want
0:12.6	to encourage listeners to please keep talking about these options because it
0:17.6	can really help others to see a familiar face advocating and embracing these
0:22.2	things.
0:29.1	Welcome to Death in the afternoon. The podcast from your favorite funeral
0:34.2	reform nerds at the Order of the Good Death. I'm Caitlin Dodie, founder of the
0:39.2	Order, and today's episode is about human composting legalization. Now if you
0:45.6	never thought you'd be listening to a whole podcast about human composting,
0:50.2	forget a podcast about the specific idiosyncrasies and bureaucracies
0:55.5	involved in legalizing the process. Welcome. I can't promise this will be
1:01.2	interesting. No, actually, you know what? No, I can't. I can promise it will be
1:05.8	interesting. It's a death in the afternoon. Guarantee I myself am still flying
1:13.4	high from the very recent legalization of the process in California, which was
1:18.8	the result of a three-year campaign. Our first guest today is a long time
1:24.6	friend of mine, Katrina Spade. In 2014, while getting her masters in architecture,
1:30.2	Katrina decided to work on a new more ecologically aware system for
1:35.6	handling dead bodies, especially in crowded urban areas. After learning that
1:41.0	dead cattle had been composted for years, and yes, like compost pile in your
1:46.8	backyard composted, a light bulb went off. Katrina has spent the last eight
1:52.7	years testing the process at human decomposition facilities, aka body farms,
1:58.6	and collaborating with soil scientists and experts around the United States. Her
	...

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