Cremation or Aquamation?

When it comes to what they want to happen to their bodies after their death, most people prefer cremation.

Despite what you might expect, the idea of being buried in a big expensive casket and put deep into the ground, does not appeal to everyone.

Nowadays, it’s hard for many folks to get to visit graveside.

Keeping your loved one's cremains in an urn feels sacred. It is also very convenient and flexible whether you want to keep or spread those ashes on a mountain top at sunset.

You don't have to visit the cemetery if you live far away. You can keep the ashes with you.

You don't have to pay for a traditional burial which is well over $10,000 for basic amenities.

You don't have to worry about the carbon footprint you are leaving.

Of course, there are other alternatives to traditional burial.

Like natural burial, in a shroud, or basket or plain pine box in a dug grave that has no concrete, no large casket, no toxic chemicals.

Like human composting which over 8-12 weeks morphs a body into soil.

Still, cremation is concise and precise. It is attractive.

You can keep Uncle Junior on your mantle or spread Granny's ashes in the wind of the Bahamas.

What if cremation didn't cause harm? What if it didn't use high heat of 2000 degrees, use toxic chemicals and give off large emissions into the air we breathe? What if the body was not actually incinerated?

Think aquamation - or water creamation. It uses electricity, water, heat of 300 degrees and alkaline as the main chemical that causes the breakdown of the body.

It is somewhere between carbon neutral and carbon negative.

It is not a violent incinerating act.

In some counties, the efluence (wastewater) is used for agricultural purposes.

The family still gets the ashes.

Thanks to Pacific Interment's Francisco Rivero for a great tour of his aquamation facility in Oakland. He knows that one day traditional crematories will be obsolete due to their environmental impact. He is thinking ahead, knowing demand will grow. Here's to your vision, Francisco!