Biodegradable burial pod turns your body into a tree.

Bretzel and Citelli with Capsula Mundi Model.

Whenever a person dies, it is a burden for the family emotionally and financially. We spend thousands of dollars in funerals paying for the casket, flowers, and monuments. Environmentally, those caskets and monuments left behind an enormous carbon footprint.

Recently, many people have begun to embrace the idea of green burials. People are environmentally more aware and there is a shift from cremation and the use of wood, the synthetic cushioning and the metals generally used in traditional coffins to green burial. Green burial is a method of burying the body in a wooden coffin without a concrete burial vault. The body along with the wooden coffin is degraded easily by the bacteria in the soil. This type of burial allows the graveyard to return to nature. Nearly 54 percent of Americans are considering green burial and 74 percent of cemeteries are reporting an increased demand for green burial according to National Funeral Directors Association.

Italian designers, Raoul Bretzel and Anna Citelli have an interesting idea of green burial. They created a casket which they called ‘Capsula Mundi’, an egg-shaped casket where the human body can be placed in a fetal position. During the burial, the body in a casket would be buried and a tree would be planted just above the casket. The capsule is made of a material that can be degraded easily by the bacteria in the soil. After the burial, the capsule would be degraded by the bacteria and the body would be exposed to decomposing microorganisms. The decomposing body will provide natural nutrients for the plants to grow.

This will help reduce the carbon footprint in the environment.

And lastly, for family members, it could be like a reincarnation, where family members can still feel you in other life-forms.

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