These Organic Burial Pods Help Grow A Memorial Forest Of Trees

It’s frequently in the news—the world is running out of burial plots for tombstones and cemeteries. Now, a company in Italy has come up with a practical—and environmentally friendly—alternative: burying people in biodegradable pods below ground with a tree seedling (or below a tree), then having them grow into a tree before your very eyes.

Italian-based Capsula Mundi came up with the idea, and they’re still in the start-up phase of the project now. I think it’s great and hope it catches on worldwide.

First off, the whole family—and person who wishes to later become a tree—can be in charge of selecting the type of tree. Then, burial varies depending on whether the person wants their entire body buried, or if they choose cremation.

If they choose their entire body, it will be placed into a biodegradable capsule, with their body in a fetal position. (This does not seem entirely comfortable, but I guess if someone is no longer alive…) Then, the capsule is planted below a tree, with the tree’s roots getting nutrients from the pod.

If the person is cremated, their ashes will be put into a “capsula,” otherwise known as a biodegradable urn with their ashes inside and below a soil mix.

A tree seedling will be planted in the soil mix, eventually resulting in a tree. It takes 30-40 years “for a tree to reach its full potential,” said Capsula Mundi’s YouTube video about the process.

Not only is this type of burial space-saving, but it’s also more aesthetically pleasing and educational for children, too.

Plus, all the additional trees would be good for the environment. And the more “family trees,” so to speak, that we keep planting, what a forest of results we’ll get.

David Wolfe posted a version of how the pods work on Facebook, titling it, “Grow Trees, Not Graves.”

Photo by Nova Kennedy