What Next TBD: Are You Ready to Be Composted When You Die?

Slate Technology

Slate

Society & Culture, Technology, History

4.6 • 636 Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2022

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The idea of composting a human body may seem unsettling—or even gross—and it runs counter to the normal American funeral rites of embalming and internment, which preserve the body. But advocates say it’s a greener and more peaceful way to return our bodies to the Earth. Guest: Eleanor Cummins, science journalist Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Thanks Avast.com! Learn more about Avast One at Avast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	There are days when you're hungry for McDonald's.
0:03.0	Then there are days when you're Big Arch hungry for McDonald's.
0:08.0	You'll get to know the difference.
0:10.0	New Big Arch for Big McDonald's hunger.
0:13.0	Until 9th of September, from 11 a.m., participating restaurants only, subject to availability.
0:20.0	What is Teramation? from 11 a.m., participating restaurants only, subject to availability.
0:29.2	What is teramation? Well, it's also known as human composting, and here at Return Home,
0:36.2	we gently transform human remains into life-giving soil. I was wondering if you had spent any time on return home's TikTok page.
0:39.1	I have a little bit. They're very, I'm passionate about it, so they've sent me quite a few directly.
0:45.6	Eleanor Cummins is a science journalist. She recently wrote about the human composting movement
0:50.8	and one of the companies return home at the forefront, which has a pretty
0:55.8	dynamic TikTok page.
0:57.3	Today's question is, does human composting require the use of worms or bugs of any kind?
1:03.7	And I've got the answer.
1:05.4	The answer is no, by the way.
1:07.3	I asked Eleanor how accurate she thought the TikToks were. Having been inside the facility and seen some of this a little bit closer, I think that
1:15.6	they're pretty accurate.
1:17.3	And I think that that is a real break from tradition in terms of, you know, the way that
1:20.8	the funeral industry has typically related to public education, which is like, we're not
1:25.1	going to talk about this at all in any way ever, including if directly asked. And I think also, you know, it's pretty fun. I think they have
1:31.7	like a good sort of sense of what a popular TikTok is like. Yeah, hashtag human composting.
1:38.1	Right. Absolutely. Who could resist? Today on the show, Eleanor is going to take us inside the world of human composting,
	...

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