We are all focused on reducing our carbon footprint on earth during our lifespan. But ever thought about the impact your body can have on our environment, even in death? One team of innovative designers have developed an eco-friendly jumpsuit named the Infinity Burial Suit. It uses mushroom-spore-infused threads.
The idea behind this “mushroom death suit” is to neutralize environmental contaminants your body may harbour. The mushrooms will grow from the suit, digesting the nutrients from your body. Welcomed by a lot of controversy on its first announcement, the product went on sale officially in April 2016.
Mycoremediation – the unique ability of mushrooms in cleaning toxic contaminants in our environment, is what the suit is built on. Jae Rhim Lee, co-creator of the suit, explained how the master cleaners, mushrooms, inspired her to create this unique suit.
The suit now retails for $1500 on their website. The team was also looking into building an Infinity Pod for your pets’ dead bodies.
The thought of something eating your body after death may not be comfortable for most of us. But we definitely need better and cleaner burial options because the current and traditional methods only end up releasing the toxins of our bodies back to the environment.
Certain religions demand casket burial for which trees are cut, and chemicals are used for coating. Even before the burial, dead bodies are full of formaldehyde, the very toxic embalming liquid.
Cremation might sound natural but its impact is no better. Our bodies need temperatures ranging from 1400 to 2000 degree Fahrenheit for about 75 minutes. It is an extremely energy-intensive method which releases a lot of toxins and greenhouse gases to the environment. For example, cremation done in the United Kingdom is responsible for over 16% of the mercury pollution in the country, due to our dental fillings.
Apart from Coeio, companies like the Urban Burial Project and Capsula Mundi are also your other options for a clean burial. The former has created open-plan funeral buildings for all of us to decompose naturally. The latter is designed by two Italians where the burial pod turns your dead body into a tree to live for a long time.
The latest celebrity to embrace the mushroom suit was the late Luke Perry.
Lee is hopeful that clean burials are the future and her suit will change people’s perspectives on death. She stresses the need to create a shift towards cultural acceptance of death and how we are responsible for sustaining our environment, in life and in death.