Core77

Spirit Treet Eco Urn

By embaltz - June 10, 2008

in Object Culture

Eco-funerals are nothing new: we've seen the coffin industry take off with cardboard, recycled paper and even vintage models, but few are the designs that actually marry form and function. Enter the eco-urn Spirit Tree, a biodegradable cinerary urn that transforms into a living memorial in the form of a tree. Granted, the topic is a bit morbid, but the design is lovely. Fill the biodegradable urn with the remains of a loved one and cover it with the semi-porous shell top. Once planted, the bottom disintegrates, leaving room for a tree to grow through the center. The shell top remains intact until the tree trunk has grown to maturity, thereby breaking through the material and standing alone.

"The Spiritree offers a poetic life-from-death metaphor as a celebration of the loved one's memory, transforming the funeral rite from one of sadness into one of hope, all while promoting environmental restoration and awareness" said its creator, Jose Fernando Vazquez-Perez.

That's right, to top it off, the Spirit Tree is the only funerary product that is not only carbon neutral, but carbon negative - the life of a tree actually offsets the carbon emissions generated by the cremation of a body and then keeps capturing CO2 as it continues to grow. How's that for a lifecycle?!

o

Favorite This
Q
2

Comment

Comments

chamil

11 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

If one has ever viewed a body being prepared for burial one would not want to go "under"...disposal of human remains in a planet that is overcrowded into a cemetary just does not make sense..especially for so many baby boomers....the eco urn is a marvelous idea....my husband and I want to do this and have "our" trees planted close together so one day our branches will grow as closely together as our hearts have in this life together.....Parents with children could have their ashes placed in multiple urns so each child could have a living memorial...the possiblities are endless....kudos to this idea....
!Report as spam
Chuck D

16 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

I do really like this, but to say that it is 100% eco-friendly is absurd. Trees cant help get rid of the hundreds of pounds of vaporized mercury(per state, per annum) that are released by cremating human bodies. Mercury is inert in its solid state but once heated becomes very toxic, and enters the food chain(remember tuna). If all of the baby boomers get cremated, we are all screwed. This is one of the main problems with cremation. Go under, it's the best.
!Report as spam