A burial practice that nourishes the planet | Caitlin Doughty

譯者: Helen Chang 審譯者: S Sung

When I die,

我希望死後把遺體

I would like for my body to be laid out to be eaten by animals.

留給動物果腹。

Having your body laid out to be eaten by animals is not for everyone.

並非人人都能接受 留遺體給動物果腹。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Maybe you have already had the end-of-life talk with your family

也許你已經與家人談妥後事，

and decided on, I don't know, cremation.

也許選擇的是火葬。

And in the interest of full disclosure,

說實話，

what I am proposing for my dead body is not strictly legal at the moment,

我的遺體處理計劃

目前尚未完全合法，

but it's not without precedent.

但並非首例。

We've been laying out our dead for all of human history;

這種處理屍體的方式

一向存在人類的歷史裡，

it's call exposure burial.

稱為曝葬。

In fact, it's likely happening right now as we speak.

事實上，也許此刻某處 正在進行曝葬。

In the mountainous regions of Tibet,

西藏高原的人們「天葬」，

they practice "sky burial,"

a ritual where the body is left to be consumed by vultures.

把屍體留給禿鷹進食。

In Mumbai, in India, those who follow the Parsi religion

在印度孟買，

拜火教徒將死者遺體

put their dead in structures called "Towers of Silence."

置入「寂靜之塔」。

These are interesting cultural tidbits,

這些有趣的文化花絮

but they just haven't really been that popular in the Western world --

在西方世界並不風行，

they're not what you'd expect.

因為不符合大眾的預期。

In America, our death traditions have come to be chemical embalming,

傳統上，美國人 先化學防腐處理遺體，

followed by burial at your local cemetery,

然後下葬在墓園，

or, more recently, cremation.

或者近期火化較為流行。

I myself, am a recent vegetarian,

我最近開始茹素，

which means I spent the first 30 years or so of my life

換言之，我曾大啖肉食 約三十年之久，

frantically inhaling animals --

不放過任何觸手可及的肉食。

as many as I could get my hands on.

Why, when I die, should they not have their turn with me?

難道我死後不應該輪到動物吃我嗎？

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Am I not an animal?

我不也是動物嗎？

Biologically speaking, are we not all, in this room, animals?

從生物的角度來講，

在座每一位不都是動物嗎？

Accepting the fact that we are animals

接受我們是動物這個事實

has some potentially terrifying consequences.

可能有可怕的後果。

It means accepting that we are doomed to decay and die,

意味著我們得接受 必然會衰老和死亡，

just like any other creature on earth.

如同地球上其他所有的生物一般。

For the last nine years, I've worked in the funeral industry,

過去九年我從事殯葬行業，

first as a crematory operator,

一開始是火化操作員，

then as a mortician

後來承攬喪事，

and most recently, as the owner of my own funeral home.

最近我開了自己的葬儀社。

And I have some good news:

我有好個消息：

if you're looking to avoid the whole "doomed to decay and die" thing:

如果你想避開命定的衰老和死亡，

you will have all the help in the world in that avoidance

世上既有的殯葬業 會幫你避開這結局。

from the funeral industry.

It's a multi-billion-dollar industry,

這個數十億美元產業，

and its economic model is based on the principle

經濟模式建立在

of protection, sanitation and beautification of the corpse.

保護、衛生與美化遺體的準則上。

Whether they mean to or not,

有意或無意，

the funeral industry promotes this idea of human exceptionalism.

殯葬業者鼓吹人類是特例，

It doesn't matter what it takes,

不計代價、不管花多少錢、

how much it costs,

how bad it is for the environment,

不管危害環境的程度，

we're going to do it because humans are worth it!

我們硬要如此，因為人類享有特權！

It ignores the fact

如此做忽略了

that death can be an emotionally messy and complex affair,

死亡有著情緒混亂和複雜的本質，

and that there is beauty in decay --

也忽略了腐朽有著腐朽的美，

beauty in the natural return to the earth from whence we came.

美在它自然回歸大地， 我們的起源地。

Now, I don't want you to get me wrong --

別誤會我的意思，

I absolutely understand the importance of ritual,

我完全理解儀式的重要性，

especially when it comes to the people that we love.

尤其是為了心愛之人所舉行的儀式。

But we have to be able to create and practice this ritual

但前提是我們必須在 不傷害環境的基礎上

without harming the environment,

創造並施行這類儀式。

which is why we need new options.

這是為何我們需要新的喪葬選項。

So let's return to the idea of protection, sanitation and beautification.

讓我們回到保護、 衛生與美化的概念上。

We'll start with a dead body.

從遺體談起。

The funeral industry will protect your dead body

殯葬業處理遺體的現行方式是

by offering to sell your family a casket made of hardwood or metal

向家屬兜售用硬木或金屬製成，

with a rubber sealant.

用橡膠密封的棺材。

At the cemetery, on the day of burial, that casket will be lowered

下葬那天，棺材會被垂降

into a large concrete or metal vault.

置入墓園裡的大混凝土 或金屬墓室裡。

We're wasting all of these resources -- concretes, metal, hardwoods --

我們浪費混凝土、 金屬、硬木等資源，

hiding them in vast underground fortresses.

把它們埋藏到寬闊的地下堡壘裡。

When you choose burial at the cemetery,

葬在墓園裡的遺體

your dead body is not coming anywhere near the dirt that surrounds it.

根本碰不到任何周遭的泥土，

Food for worms

不會成為蟲子的食物。

you are not.

Next, the industry will sanitize your body through embalming:

其次，殯葬業防腐處理遺體，

the chemical preservation of the dead.

用化學藥物保存。

This procedure drains your blood

過程是排乾全身的血液，

and replaces it with a toxic, cancer-causing formaldehyde.

改為注入有毒、致癌的甲醛。

They say they do this for the public health

他們的說法是為了公眾的健康著想，

because the dead body can be dangerous,

因為死屍相當危險；

but the doctors in this room will tell you

但是在這現場的醫生會說，

that that claim would only apply

只在那人死於傳染病，

if the person had died of some wildly infectious disease, like Ebola.

例如伊波拉感染之類的情形才危險。

Even human decomposition, which, let's be honest,

老實說，

即使發臭、不愉快的腐爛屍體

is a little stinky and unpleasant,

is perfectly safe.

仍絕對安全。

The bacteria that causes disease is not the same bacteria

致病的細菌

和分解腐屍的細菌全然不同。

that causes decomposition.

Finally, the industry will beautify the corpse.

最後，殯葬業會美化屍體。

They'll tell you that the natural dead body of your mother or father

他們說讓令尊或令堂的遺體

is not good enough as it is.

留在的自然狀態不好，

They'll put it in makeup.

而會用化妝和衣裝來美化，

They'll put it in a suit.

會注射染料

They'll inject dyes so the person looks a little more alive --

好讓死者看起來像是活著，

just resting.

只是在休息而已。

Embalming is a cheat code,

防腐是造成錯覺的欺騙，

providing the illusion that death and then decay are not the natural end

它遮掩地球上所有生命的自然終結

for all organic life on this planet.

乃是死亡和腐朽。

Now, if this system of beautification, sanitation, protection

如果這樣的美化、衛生和保護方式

doesn't appeal to you,

沒打動你，

you are not alone.

你並不孤單。

There is a whole wave of people --

有一大群人，

funeral directors, designers, environmentalists --

包括喪葬執行者、 設計者、環保主義者，

trying to come up with a more eco-friendly way of death.

正嘗試找出友善 生態環境的喪葬方式。

For these people, death is not necessarily

這些人不認為死亡就得用化妝

a pristine, makeup, powder-blue tuxedo kind of affair.

和淺藍全新的燕尾服等等來妝點。

There's no question

毫無疑問

that our current methods of death are not particularly sustainable,

現行處理死亡的方式並不永續，

what with the waste of resources and our reliance on chemicals.

尤其很浪費資源和依賴化學用品。

Even cremation,

即使火葬

which is usually considered the environmentally friendly option,

通常被認為是種環保的選擇，

uses, per cremation,

每次火葬消耗掉的天然氣

the natural gas equivalent of a 500-mile car trip.

可以讓汽車行駛五百英里遠。

So where do we go from here?

接下來怎麼做呢？

Last summer, I was in the mountains of North Carolina,

上個夏天我在北卡羅萊納州的山上，

hauling buckets of wood chips in the summer sun.

頂著烈日搬運一桶桶的碎木，

I was at Western Carolina University at their "Body Farm,"

西卡羅萊納州立大學的 「人體農場」，

more accurately called a "human decomposition facility."

更精準的名稱是「人體分解設施」。

Bodies donated to science are brought here,

捐給科學的大體 被運到這裡腐爛分解，

and their decay is studied to benefit the future of forensics.

助益於將來的法醫學研究。

On this particular day,

那一天

there were 12 bodies laid out in various stages of decomposition.

有十二具腐爛程度不一的大體，

Some were skeletonized,

有的只剩骨骼，

one was wearing purple pajamas,

有一具穿著紫色的睡衣，

one still had blonde facial hair visible.

有一具還看得見臉上的金色毛髮。

The forensic aspect is really fascinating,

法醫學那方面很吸引人，

but not actually why I was there.

但不是我去那裡參與的理由，

I was there because a colleague of mine named Katrina Spade

我因同事卡翠娜·史培德而去那裡，

is attempting to create a system, not of cremating the dead,

她正在創建一個不火化，

而是用遺體做堆肥的殯葬系統。

but composting the dead.

She calls the system "Recomposition,"

她取的名字是「重組」，

and we've been doing it with cattle and other livestock for years.

已經在牛和其他牲口上 試驗了好幾年。

She imagines a facility

她擘畫的設施，

where the family could come and lay their dead loved one

能讓遺屬把死去的親人

in a nutrient-rich mixture that would, in four-to-six weeks,

安置在一個富含養分的混合物裡，

四到六週後，

reduce the body -- bones and all -- to soil.

遺體連同骨頭全都分解成土壤。

In those four-to-six weeks,

在四到六週裡，

your molecules become other molecules;

遺體原先的分子轉化成其他的分子，

you literally transform.

真正是字面上的轉化。

How would this fit in with the very recent desire

這符合和近來很多人

a lot of people seem to have

to be buried under a tree,

想要死後樹葬

or to become a tree when they die?

或幻化為樹的希望嗎？

In a traditional cremation, the ashes that are left over --

傳統火化後的骨灰，

inorganic bone fragments --

無機的骨灰，

form a thick, chalky layer

形成厚厚一層白堊層，

that, unless distributed in the soil just right,

如果沒被妥善埋入土裡，

can actually hurt or kill the tree.

其實會傷害樹或使樹枯死。

But if you're recomposed, if you actually become the soil,

但是如果你的遺體重組

變成真的土壤，

you can nourish the tree,

能滋養樹木，

and become the post-mortem contributor you've always wanted to be --

達到你死後貢獻的目標，

that you deserve to be.

貨真價實達到目標。

So that's one option for the future of cremation.

那是火葬之外的另一種選項。

But what about the future of cemeteries?

未來的墓園是什麼樣子？

There are a lot of people who think we shouldn't even have cemeteries anymore

很多人認為未來不應該再有墓園，

because we're running out of land.

因為土地已快被我們耗盡了。

But what if we reframed it,

但如果我們重新定義，

and the corpse wasn't the land's enemy,

遺體不再與土地為敵，

but its potential savior?

反而具有拯救土地的潛力呢？

I'm talking about conservation burial,

我說的是養護性埋葬，

where large swaths of land are purchased by a land trust.

由土地信託購下大片的土地。

The beauty of this is that once you plant a few dead bodies in that land,

妙在一旦那塊地裡埋下了幾具遺體，

it can't be touched, it can't be developed on --

就不允許或被開發或被更動，

hence the term, "conservation burial."

因此稱為「養護性埋葬」。

It's the equivalent of chaining yourself to a tree post-mortem --

相當於你讓遺體和一棵樹綁到一起：

"Hell no, I won't go!

「不，我不離開。」

No, really -- I can't. I'm decomposing under here."

「真的，我離不開。 我正在樹下分解。」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Any money that the family gives to the cemetery

家屬給墓地的每一分錢

would go back into protecting and managing the land.

都會被用來保護和管理這塊土地。

There are no headstones and no graves in the typical sense.

這裡不會有傳統形式的墳墓或墓碑。

The graves are scattered about the property

墳墓被適當地散佈在

under elegant mounds,

優雅的小丘下，

marked only by a rock or a small metal disk,

只用小小的石頭或金屬片標記著，

or sometimes only locatable by GPS.

或是僅用 GPS 定位。

There's no embalming,

遺體不經防腐處理，

no heavy, metal caskets.

不用厚重的金屬棺槨。

My funeral home sells a few caskets

我的葬儀社賣一些

made out of things like woven willow and bamboo,

楊柳和竹子編織成的棺柩，

but honestly, most of our families just choose a simple shroud.

但老實說，

大多數家庭只選用簡單的裹屍布。

There are none of the big vaults that most cemeteries require

沒有大型墓穴，

不像那些墓園造大墓穴 只為了容易造景。

just because it makes it easier for them to landscape.

Families can come here; they can luxuriate in nature;

家人能來這裡享受大自然；

they can even plant a tree or a shrub,

甚至能種棵樹或灌木，

though only native plants to the area are allowed.

僅限當地的原生種植栽。

The dead then blend seamlessly in with the landscape.

這樣死者就完全融入景觀裡。

There's hope in conservation cemeteries.

養護性墓地的前景看好。

They offer dedicated green space in both urban and rural areas.

它們為城市和鄉間提供專屬綠地，

They offer a chance to reintroduce native plants and animals to a region.

提供再度引入當地動植物的機會，

They offer public trails,

提供公共小徑、

places for spiritual practice,

靈修場所，

places for classes and events --

提供可上課和聚會的場地，

places where nature and mourning meet.

提供大自然和哀思互相融合的地方。

Most importantly, they offer us, once again,

最重要的是再次給了我們

a chance to just decompose in a hole in the ground.

在地底下腐爛分解的機會。

The soil,

讓我重申，

let me tell you,

has missed us.

土壤思念我們。

I think for a lot of people,

我認為許多人

they're starting to get the sense

開始覺得當前的殯葬

that our current funeral industry isn't really working for them.

並不適合他們。

For many of us,

被消毒和美化

being sanitized and beautified just doesn't reflect us.

並不能反映我們當中的許多人，

It doesn't reflect what we stood for during our lives.

不真實反映我們代表 和擁護的生命價值。

Will changing the way we bury our dead solve climate change?

改變我們下葬的方式 能解決氣候變遷嗎？

No.

不能，

But it will make bold moves

但它將會是

in how we see ourselves as citizens of this planet.

我們自詡為地球公民的魄力行動。

If we can die in a way that is more humble and self-aware,

如果我們以更簡約、 更自覺的方式下葬，

相信我們有機會解決氣候變遷問題。

I believe that we stand a chance.

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）