Gavin Newsom just signed into law a new way for families to handle their loved ones’ bodies after death.
Just in, the state of California has legalized human composting.! This is a relatively newly accepted way to dispose of your loved ones after they die and could be coming to a state near you soon. Here’s what you need to know about this interesting new process.
Daily Wire writes. California has legalized the use of human remains for composting.
On Sunday, Democratic Governor of California Gavin Newsom signed AB-351, which will permit residents to select to have their remains composted after they die, beginning in 2027.
Assemblymember Cristina Garcia, one of the bill’s architects and its author, implied she might go for the method herself.
“Trees are important carbon breaks for the environment,” Garcia said. “They are the best filters for air quality and if more people participate in organic reduction and tree-planting, we can help with California’s carbon footprint. I look forward to continuing my legacy to fight for clean air by using my reduced remains to plant a tree.”
The bill creates a regulation method for the state with regards to the process.
California is not the first state to legalize human composting, as it joins a list of other states.
The process of composting a cadaver, already legalized in Washington, Colorado and Oregon, involves placing the body in a reusable container, surrounding it with wood chips and aerating it to let microbes and bacteria grow. After about a month, the remains will decompose and be fully transformed into soil. Companies such as Recompose in Washington offer the service at a natural organic reduction facility.
Unlike cremation, the process avoids the burning of fossil fuels and emission of carbon monoxide. National Geographic estimated that cremations in the U.S. alone emit about 360,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year.
During the early depths of the coronavirus pandemic, when funeral homes were inundated, Los Angeles County suspended regulations on cremation emissions. The author of the bill, Democratic Assembly member Cristina Garcia, says the threat of climate change motivated the new law.
Shocking that liberal states would be the first ones to implement this. I wonder if this will become a growing fad, or will just go the way of other liberal trends.
Let’s continue this conversation, in the comments below.
