Thursday, June 14, 2012

Die & Save the Environment

Banana Leaf Casket
You've likely heard about the environmental movement's drive to reduce your "carbon footprint," but now there's a company that wants to help you reduce your "final footprint." The company, which goes by the same name, manufactures eco-friendly caskets made out of rattan, willow, bamboo, sea grass, banana leaf, and wood.

According to Final Footprint, there is enough steel buried each year to rebuild the Golden Gate Bridge and enough concrete to construct a highway from New York City to Detroit. They're also quite expensive, running upwards of several thousand dollars each. Final Footprint's so-called "e-coffins" cost only around $1,000.

While you might be tempted to think cremation is a more environmentally friendly means of disposing of one's remains, Final Footprint says a single body requires up to 356 cubic feet of natural gas because humans are mostly water and produces 1.6–8.5 grams of toxic mercury (from dental fillings). If nothing else, these green coffins will certainly help you return to a natural state -- as in "dust to dust" -- faster than their steel cousins, which the coffin maker says is the only real purpose of a metal casket: to prevent decomposition faster.

Wicker coffins are certainly a greener alternative, but hardly the stuff nightmares are made of.

Bamboo

Rattan
Seagrass
Wood
Fabric

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