The News Tribune explores Washington state residents' growing interest in human composting, featuring Earth Funeral's conservation land and personal stories of families choosing soil transformation.
"You become part of the ecosystem, and that's very important to me," said Lorna Moore, a 76-year-old Woodinville resident who visited Earth Funeral's conservation property near Quilcene on the Olympic Peninsula where her remains will one day be spread.
In The News Tribune, reporter Craig Sailor examines the rising popularity of human composting in Washington state, highlighting how 68% of the public now shows interest in green funeral options compared to 55.7% in 2021.
The article provides an intimate look at Earth Funeral's 5-acre conservation site, a former logging area overlooking Crocker Lake that's being restored with native plants and trees using nutrient-rich soil from the composting process. The piece follows families like Chris Gourley, who chose human composting for her environmentally conscious father Richard Nadolny, and details how Earth Funeral works with local authorities to make the process seamless.
The coverage emphasizes the practical and philosophical appeal of the affordable process, which produces a cubic yard of compostable soil while avoiding the land use of burial and pollution of cremation.