Eco-Friendly Burial Pods Will Turn Your Loved Ones into Trees

Alternative Coffin Trees Capsula Mundi

Instead of the typical coffin burial, Italian designers Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel developed an eco-friendly alternative. It's called Capsula Mundi, and it uses egg-shaped pods that hold a deceased human body for burial. Each capsule will turn into nutrients for a tree that will grow out of the dead's remains. The idea is that it these “seeds” can offer a more practical internment and allow us to come full circle, returning to nature.

For burial, the deceased is moved into the fetal position and either a tree or a tree seed is planted above their pod. There are already a variety of trees to select from via the Capsula Mundi website. It's meant to be chosen while the person is alive and for friends and family to look after it after the death occurs. ” A cemetery will no longer be full of tombstones and will become a sacred forest,” explain Citelli and Bretzel. And, the idea of resting in the shade of a loved one is certainly comforting.

Capsula Mundi is currently just a concept and not a reality because Italian law bans this type of procedure. The designers are working to change legislation to allow people more alternative options for their burials.

Burial Pods Coffin Trees Capsula Mundi

Burial Pods Coffin Trees Capsula Mundi

Burial Pods Coffin Trees Capsula Mundi

Burial Pods Coffin Human Trees Capsula Mundi

Capsula Mundi: Website | Facebook
h/t: [Distractify, Bored Panda]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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