(LifeSiteNews) — The Rhode Island House of Representatives approved legislation legalizing “human composting” as an option instead of burial or cremation. The bill now heads to the state Senate.
Bill H7212 would provide “for the operation and duties of natural organic reduction for the contained, accelerated conversion of human remains to soil” at a “disposition facility.”
All 10 sponsors of the bill in the Rhode Island House are Democrats.
‘Treated like trash’
Not every lawmaker in the Rhode Island House was enthusiastic about the prospect of “human composting.”
Democrat Rep. Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung said that the idea of composting human bodies “creeps me out.”
“On the other end, the darker side, where I reside, that is where you can’t shake the nagging image, the feeling, the part and parcel of continuation of disrespect for life, the continuation of the culture of death and callousness, we see permeating through the country,” Rep. Arthur Corvese said.
“Today, the House passed a human composting bill that I voted against because I feel human remains must be treated with dignity and respect,” Delegate Charlene Lima wrote on X. “While I commend (McGaw) for thinking outside of the box, I think we should keep everybody inside the box in this case.”
Promoted as a ‘green alternative’ to burial
“Not everyone is comfortable with the impact of burial, which occupies land, or cremation, which emits a significant amount of carbon,” argued Rep. Michelle McGaw, who introduced the bill last year. “Natural organic reduction is a greener alternative that may be preferable for those concerned about how their final wishes affect the planet.”
“For people who have respected the earth and tried to lighten their impact on it in life, it makes sense to also want to take the greenest, most environmentally beneficial route in death,” McGaw continued. “This is an option that we should work to make available here in Rhode Island, for our people and for our planet.”
What is ‘human composting?’
‘Human composting’ is exactly what it sounds like.
“Much in the way someone throws old coffee grounds or vegetable peelings into a compost pile to turn into fertilizer, the human body, a creation of God, is treated like nutrients for the dirt,” LifeSiteNews’ Matt Lamb wrote in describing the process earlier this year.
“The first step in human composting begins with the body in a ‘cradle’ surrounded by organic materials, such as wood chips, alfalfa, and straw,” Mallory McDuff, an environmental education professor, explained last month in Wired. “For about 30 days, the body remains in a ‘vessel,’ where microbes and heat transform it into compost.”
The process “transforms bodies into nutrient-rich soil,” she insisted, and is a way to fight “climate emergency.”
“Donating human remains to a body farm and human composting are two ways to create life from death, engage family and friends, and make a difference in our climate emergency,” said McDuff, attempting to cast the process in a favorable light.
USCCB condemns ‘human composting’
In a statement issued last year titled “On the Proper Disposition of Bodily Remains,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) condemned the destruction of deceased human bodies through composting.
Human composting is “disconcerting” because it leaves “nothing that one can point to and identify as remains of the body” the bishops explained. “The body and the plant material have all decomposed together to yield a single mass of compost. What is left is approximately a cubic yard of compost that one is invited to spread on a lawn or in a garden or in some wilderness location.”
The bishops affirmed that “(e)very human being has been created ‘in the image of God’ (Gn 1:26-27) and has an inherent dignity and worth.”
Accordingly, human beings “are therefore obliged to respect our bodily existence throughout our lives and to respect the bodies of the deceased when their earthly lives have come to an end.”
Noting that “(b)urial is considered by the Church to be the most appropriate way of manifesting reverence and respect for the body of the deceased because it ‘honors the children of God, who are temples of the Holy Spirit,’ the bishops said cremation can also be permitted so long as it’s not “chosen for reasons contrary to Christian doctrine.”
The bishops concluded their statement by reaffirming that since humans “are not pure spirits like the angels” but actually “share in the physicality of the material order” as “both body and soul,” we must “respect our bodily existence throughout our lives and to respect the bodies of the deceased when their earthly lives have come to an end.”
“The way that we treat the bodies of our beloved dead must always bear witness to our faith in and our hope for what God has promised us,” they wrote.
Ten states have move toward turning dead loved ones into potting soil
Currently, 10 states – including Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, California, New York, Nevada, Arizona, Maryland, and Delaware – have either legalized the practice or are well on the way to doing so.
“Let’s hope the choice of ‘deathcare’ is not thrust upon anyone by mandates,” wrote Leslie Eastman, commenting at Legal Insurrection on Rhode Island’s move toward human composting.
“Unfortunately, recent experience suggests that eco-activists don’t hesitate to make their preferences for today everyone’s requirements for tomorrow,” she added.