global briefs Beyond Green Burial
Human Composting at the End of Life Washington is poised to become the first state to make it legal to compost human remains. A bill al- lowing for the pro- cess, called natural organic reduction, as well as another
called water cremation, has passed the state senate and is making its way to the house for a vote. Human com- posting involves placing a body in a tubular vessel and covering it with natural materials like wood chips and straw. Over several weeks, microbial activity breaks down the body into about a cubic yard of soil. Recompose, a company that wants to offer the practice as an alternative to traditional methods, worked with Washington State University to test its safety for environmental and human health. Six people donated their bodies for the study. The method alleviates much of the carbon footprint associated with both cremation and traditional casket burial.
Bear Blitz Climate-Challenged
Polar Bears Invade Town About 50 polar bears that usu- ally hunt seals from ice floes have found new cuisine in the garbage dumps in the remote Russian island military town of Belushya Gubam, about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow. Its 2,000 residents, long accustomed to the occasional bear strolling through, now call it a “mass invasion” as the curious bears peer into windows, stare down barking dogs and dig through trash. Russia’s environmental response agency has sent in a crisis team that is studying how to remove the bears without killing them. The Barents Sea that the bears inhabit is undergoing what a recent study called a “rapid climate shift” from Arctic Ocean temperatures to
warmer Atlantic Ocean-like temperatures; the entire west- ern side of the island is now ice-free year round.
12 Greater Oklahoma/OKC Edition
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