Dust to Dust or Earth to Earth? Composting as an Alternative after Death, with Katrina Spade of Recompose

Sustainability Now! on KSQD.org

What happens to your corporeal body, if and when it is buried in the earth? According to Genesis in the Hebrew Torah, we come from dust and to dust we return. The original text, however, uses the word עָפָ֣ר ("apar"), which means “earth.” Most burials in the United States seek to protect the body from returning to the earth through containment, while cremation produces greenhouse gases and leaves behind heavy metals. Are there other ways to go? Join host Ronnie Lipschutz for a conversation with Katrina Spade, founder and CEO of Recompose, a Seattle-based green funeral home that composts human bodies, turning them into soil that can be spread almost everywhere. We talk about other end-of-life choices, too.