Italian designers Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel have developed a special capsule in which the body of the deceased can be placed in the fetal position. The capsule is laid in the ground, and it nourishes the roots of the tree. So the body receives, as it were, a “second birth”. Such a capsule is called “eco-pod” (eco pod), or “Capsula Mundi” – “Capsule of the World.”
“The tree symbolizes the union of earth and sky, material and immaterial, body and soul,” innovators Zitelli and Bretzel told The New York Daily News. “Governments around the world are becoming more and more open to our project.” For the first time, designers announced their unusual project back in 2013, but it is now that he began to receive permission from the authorities of different countries.
The project, indeed, gained fame in different parts of the world. Designers are getting, they say, “more and more orders” for “eco-pods” from vegans, vegetarians and just people who want to end their earthly journey in an unusual, romantic and beneficial way for the planet – a second “green” birth!
But in their native Italy, this “green” project has not yet been given a “green light”. Designers are trying in vain to obtain permission from the country’s authorities for such an unusual funeral.
Tony Gale, director of the documentary A Will for the Woods (the title is a play on words, which can be translated as both “The Will to Benefit the Forest” and “A Testament to the Forests”), which talks about eco-pods, said, that the “Capsule Mundi” is “a wonderful invention, and represents a long-planned cultural leap.”
In general, the Italians, who this year also presented another unusual design project – the “vegan hunting trophy”, which is “horns” made of wood that can be hung over the hearths along with deer antlers, clearly keep their finger on the pulse of “green design”. “!
But the project already has a serious American competitor – the eco-funeral brand “Resolution” (): the name can be translated as “Return to Nectar”. This project also aims to return the body to the earth in the most environmentally friendly way possible. But (as the name implies), during such a funeral ceremony, the body … is turned into a liquid (using water, alkali, temperature and high pressure). As a result, two products are formed: a liquid that is 100% suitable for fertilizing a vegetable garden (or, again, forests!), As well as pure calcium, which can also be safely buried in the ground – it will be completely absorbed by the soil. Far from being as romantic as the Peace Capsule, but also 100% vegan!
In any case, from a ecological point of view, even such a not-so-beautiful alternative is better than, for example, mummification (involves the use of highly toxic chemicals) or burial in a coffin (not good for the soil). Even at first glance, “clean” cremation is harmful to the Earth’s ecology, because during this ceremony, mercury, lead, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere … So the option to turn into a liquid and fertilize the lawn or “reborn” in the fetal position as a tree is perhaps much more “green” and worthy of a vegan “according to life” and beyond.
Based on materials