The Bahá'í faith says: "I came forth from God, and return unto Him, detached from all save Him, holding fast to His Name, the Merciful, the Compassionate".
Death comes to everybody, we are all mere mortals. Each individual completes his cycle of life and ultimately wishes for an eternal union with his creator. Every faith prescribes a set procedure, rituals and ceremonies in preparation for a peaceful afterlife. But our ethics and to a certain extent, our religious fear makes us turn an unmindful and a rather nonchalant eye to our burial and crematory practices which have a profound environment impacts. The atrocities being inflicted upon Mother Earth cannot be ignored and we must fulfil our duties in saving our motherland.
To prevent the degradation of human body and to pay respect to their dead, people from all faiths usually wither cremate or bury their loved ones who are no more. Though mummification can be a little spooky, many people are adopting this method because of its extraordinary nature.In all these processes, environmental bads are aplenty.
Cremation entails the use of a gas resulting in the depletion of a limited fossil fuel and creating air pollution at the same time. Mercury which is let out fromt he decay of a body's teeth is bad for the environment. Cremation is considered as a much cleaner method since it helps to maintain a balance in the atmostphere. The smoke emitted by crematoriums needs to be regulated and steps need to be taken to dispose off the remains in eco-frienly, biodegradable bags. Awareness needs to be created among Indian Hindu families to let go of age-old traditions for the benefit of environment and use electric cremators for this purpose like the West.
There is no smoke emission in case of a burial and hence people feel its a more eco-friendly cremating techni. The use of potentially dangerous herbicides, its effect on water supplies and the use of plastic and other materials used for coffin manufacture can pose a serious threat to the environment. Use of harmful herbicides in cemetries causes soild pollution, hence emphasis needs to be laid on biodegradable coffins or caskets. Tree plantation should be carried on a large scale in and around the cemetery to reduce carbon footprints and steps should be taken to convert them into wildlife reserves. This will greatly diminish the use of herbicides for weed control as well as cause only a minimal damage to nature and environment.
Although there is no disposition method which does not raise environmental concerns but what is important for us, is to be aware and go for “green burials” and “green cremations.Toxins like formaldehyde, a carcinogen are gaining popularity in the West to replace body fluids in dead bodies, however these are very harmful for the environment. All crematorial methods should be made as enivronment friendly as possible to ensure ecological-balance.