The verb GIVE tends to achieve a broader and more meaningful significance as we grow older and wiser. GIVE is a great word that can make us very happy, fill us with joy and give us fullness. GIVING is beautiful and over the years we learn that GIVING is often more rewarding than receiving. We all like to give gifts, to give hugs… and in return, we receive the best rewards: love, gratitude, happiness… It is said that life is about valuing the little things, and GIVING gives us many occasions to do just that.

Time goes by and at some point in our lives we begin to think all the ways we really can GIVE and do something good for the planet, for Nature, for the air we breathe, for biodiversity and for humanity. Many of us already recycle, avoid plastics, eat less meat, etc… because we know that in the past decades human beings, we, have made a lot of mistakes (deforestation, pollution, breaking the balance of biodiversity…) and these mistakes we now clearly can see the results of as environmental catastrophes such as wildfires, draughts, global warming, famine, extensions. During these past decades we have not GIVEN, we have mostly TAKEN and with that we have harmed the planet.

But a deceased body can GIVE and be positive to the planet. It is not only about the choices we make while alive, but also about what we do with our bodies when dead. People want to GIVE even after life and thus they want new and sustainable ecological alternatives (we’re not just talking about green urns and eco-boxes). Instead of contribute negatively, as we do nowadays with the traditional methods; why not promote burial (and cremation) alternatives that contribute positively to the environment? Administrations have not yet made the first step, even when people are already walking fast.

GIVING is being generous, GIVING is love, GIVING is sustainability. If a new alternative or method is sustainable, then it is GIVING to Nature what belongs to it, in the way Nature prefers, the way Nature intended. We have to understand that not all options labeled as sustainable and ecological are really sustainable for Nature in all aspects.

A true sustainable option will be the one that facilitates (and demonstrates) the formation of fertile soil after the burial. Having said that, it is not intended to eliminate the deceased body, hiding it and letting it pollute, but quite the opposite; the body must be incorporated into the organic cycle of life in the right way– then it will contribute nutrients to the soil, it will sequestrate carbon in the soil, where it should be, instead of in the air as CO2, and therefore it will not pollute. The only way to achieve this is to listen and learn from Nature and its biological principles. This should the starting point for any alternative which is promoted as sustainable.