Overlooking the coastal sandstone cliffs south of Sydney’s CBD, gravestones in Waverley Cemetery stand like sentinels, aligned like a military parade. A Yulan magnolia grows out of the grave of a post World War II Italian migrant, at rest since 7 May 1977. It’s as if it is drawing its sustenance from the deceased.
Life depends on death – a circle that has been going on forever. Saplings grow out of rotting trees, and marine carcasses provide a bounty of nutrients for deep water organisms.
When creatures die, they decompose and become the nutrients that other life forms need to flourish. But most humans end up embalmed and buried, or cremated. Are the rituals we have created messing with this cycle of life?
Some think so. “Green death” trends have emerged in the funeral industry to respond to people’s growing concerns around the ecological burden of traditional burial practices.
The science of human decomposition
First, what happens when a body decomposes out in the open? A little warning here is due: this is not a story for the squeamish. When you die, your heart no longer pumps blood through your veins. Gravity draws the blood
