We should all put some thought into death

Every time I think about death and cemeteries, I think of the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. The graves are, no doubt, magnificent works of art and hold an important place in history, but imagine how ridiculous it would be if we were all buried like this. The amount of space given to each individual is probably more than the average, affordable Vancouver apartment. Ideally, we as a society would pick funeral practices that reinvest in our earth. The positive future I envision, is one where human death begets life. Until this week, I had never even heard of alkaline hydrolysis and I think that’s where the main problem lies. What we learned about death-care practices this week needs to become more widely-available knowledge. As an intervention, I propose a campaign focused on educating people on natural death-care options and legalizing practices like alkaline hydrolysis in all of Canada. Expanding options and opening up the conversation about death would be a huge step forward for us as a society.