GRAVE CONCERNS
First grave concern - we live in an overpopulated and aging world.
A tiny fraction of the 7 billion living on this earth
By the simple effect of demographics, death and graves must inevitably become a serious logistical and environmental problem, more significant than in the history of mankind. Every one of the billions of people living today and in the next few decades will need a grave or cremation.
Even in an ideal world of unlimited resources, this scale of operation would be a challenge.
Second grave concern - potential solutions are limited by land scarcity and degradation.
More dead land ... to sustain more and more Life?
Each year our land must sustain more life and more uses. But of the land once at our disposal, industrial activities have degraded large tracts of it, making it useless for human habitation, economic production or a simple return to nature. Even modern burial methods degrade the land. Now increasing tracts of this disappearing resource will be needed for the dead, for cemeteries.
Must we give up precious arable land or green fields for new cemeteries?
.
Third grave concern - the literal grave matter of unsatisfying funerary practices.
Old-fashioned, unsatisfying funeral practices
Traditional funerals and cemeteries are disconnected from contemporary environmental, aesthetic, and spiritual needs. With good reason we have little trust in traditional providers. In many cases we are also forced into practices we would not freely choose, such as reuse of graves or compulsory cremation (China).
But worst of all, an unprecedented taboo has built up around death, making it socially and psychologically unapproachable, so that we are less prepared than ever to face it. Yet, by the inescapable effect of demographics, death’s face will be increasingly present in our world, and deal with it we will have to.
Fortunately, despite the seriousness of these issues, there is room for hope, a potential solution.
