Where will you be buried?

I always thought you had two choices: a cemetery or cremation. The problem with cemeteries is space; they are reaching a point where there is no space. Even now residents who have lived in Queens for eighty-five years are being laid to rest eighty-five miles away in New Jersey; low-income families in Brooklyn have to splurge on train tickets to pay respects to loved ones buried in plots miles away. The problem with cremation is ecological. The fire burns at 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit for at least two hours, is ecologically undesirable because of the required energy, the use of non-renewable fuels, and the sometimes toxic gases released to the atmosphere. Studies have demonstrated that the amount of energy used to cremate a single body equals the home-energy demands of a typical American over an entire month.

The DeathLab, a Columbia University research collaborative of architects, scientists, and theologians is thinking about what becomes of our bodies when we die, and what impact that has on the living. It is experimenting with something called anaerobic microbial digestion: microorganisms that can consume bodies without the need for oxygen. This method will reduce the corpse to a smaller amount of material. But more strikingly, it will produce energy that can be harnessed to generate light. They have produced a rendering of a bridge in Manhattan with lighting created by anaerobic microbial digestion. They call it Constellation Park.