Help Save the Planet: Die

Martin Azua, of Spain, has come up with an eco-friendly way to dispose of your corporeal remains after you die. He is marketing his design as the Bios Urn.

The Bios Urn is a biodegradeable urn made from coconut shell, compacted peat and cellulose. Inside is placed your ashes and a tree seed of your choice. The urn is then planted in the ground where the seed can germinate, reincarnating (recycling?) you into a tree. Trees take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and “exhale” oxygen: so not only do you nourish the life of a new tree, you also reverse the carbon footprint you left behind.

I think the Bios Urn is a much better alternative than simply spreading your ashes over a favorite place or merely taking up space on a shelf in the home of a loved-one you’ve left behind.

1 member likes this

Comment by Jon van Rooyen on June 9, 2011 at 5:48am: Love this idea. Nice way to "give back" after you kick the proverbial bucket. Even if your remains don't contribute anything to the growth and nourishment of the tree (which I'm pretty certain they will), at least a new tree will be planted. We can always do with more trees. :)

Comment by Akshay Bist on June 9, 2011 at 8:08am: Well cremating will cause pollution, won't it? I'd like to be either turned into fertilizer after my organs are removed or be buried and have a tree, preferably a fruit tree planted on top.

Comment by Akshay Bist on June 9, 2011 at 8:16am: Or donate my body to science. Would be cool if they built some kind of thing, similar to Frankenstein's monster outta me.

Comment by Donald S. Chase on June 9, 2011 at 8:33am: I'd like to go to a "body farm".

Comment by Atheist Exile on June 10, 2011 at 3:04am: Is there any nourishment to be had (by a tree) from a body's ashes? Maybe it would be more effective to have your body composted or pelletized as fertilizer.

If you die, yet still have healthy organs (i.e. in an accident), you could serve the most good if you already have an organ donor endorsement on your driver's license. Then the rest of your body could be used as fertilizer.