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Composting bodies catches on as the eco-friendly alternative to burial and cremation

Aug 29, 2024
Body disposition can have a major environmental impact. That’s partly why 12 states and counting have legalized human composting in the past five years.
One disposition produces 200-300 pounds of soil, according to Earth Funeral CEO Tom Harries. But most families choose to keep a fraction of it.
Mat Hayward/Getty Images for Earth Funeral

More and more Americans are choosing cremation

Apr 18, 2023
That may in part be because of cost — cremation tends to be less expensive than burials — but also because of the creative creation remains market. Loved ones have options to create jewelry, paperweights, tattoos, even fireworks, from cremated remains.
Thomas Demarczyk/iStock / Getty Images Plus

What happens when a body is donated to science?

Oct 27, 2017
The growing industry of body part sales.

Black-owned funeral homes face existential challenge

Nov 4, 2014
As black neighborhoods change, funeral directors are struggling to adapt.
Dwayne Bickham, an attendant at Bowman and Young who has worked there since he was 17.
Lewis Wallace/WYSO

PODCAST: Size does matter for FedEx

May 8, 2014
The new nominee for HHS Secretary goes before the Senate. And more Americans are going online to find cremation urns.