Environmental Impacts of Traditional Deathcare Practices: Legalize Human Composting in Florida


The Environmental Impact of our Traditional Deathcare Practices

(and the legalization of new alternatives)

By Hannah-Grace Perry

[Aim of my project

    For my project I focused on two corresponding messages: the first, there are negative environmental consequences resulting from our current deathcare practices; two, there are sustainable alternatives available but they need to be legalized. 

    I aimed to communicate three things: 
        1. Communicate the issue to the general public, as well as Florida lawmakers. 
        2. Alert the public of sustainable alternatives and bring the idea of their legalization to the table. 
        3. Start gaining momentum in the legalization of human composting in Florida. 

    I communicated these ideas in two ways, through social media posts and a petition. 

[Instagram posts

    I used a variety of tactics that I learned in Environmental Communication in the design of the project as well as in the design of the actual posts I created. For the project I made an Instagram account, titled @greengrimreaperec, and created informational posts to get followers educated on my messages and motivated to make change. 



                                                                

    This is an example of a post from the Instagram account. Total I created seven posts about burial practices, their impacts, and sustainable alternatives. While creating each post I tried to keep in mind that I needed them to be attractive, informational, but not too much text. I tried to keep themes for each post so that it made it feel more connected, and used designs, graphics, and/or memes to keep them interesting. My motivation for the account was to apply the course concept of alert which is to warn, signaling a problem or threat, or to notify supporters of an opportunity to act. Not everyone is aware of the environmental damage caused by our traditional burial practices, so I wanted to start my project off with this concept. With this post in particular I attempted to make my message memorable, using the classic R.I.P. representation that many people think of when they imagine gravestones, paired with the information about how they attribute to environmental pollution I was making the information easier to remember. I also included the information that, "every four acres of cemetery space contains enough embalming fluid to fill a small swimming pool" (@greengrimreaperec) to explain significance vs. magnitude. I could have just written down how much embalming fluid was in the average cemetery, but that would be a large number that most people won't remember, instead it is better to make it into a comparison or apply it in a different way to make it easier to comprehend. 

I also utilized a collective action frame which embodies three things: one, a narrative that invites solidarity; two, it attributes responsibility for a problem; and three, it motivates people to take action. My posts about more sustainable alternatives combined with posts about my petition help me achieve this. I alerted my followers of the issue, attribute responsibility to the issue, then try and motivate them to make change by asking them to sign my petition and showing them ways to have more environmentally friendly deathcare (the practice of providing services or products for the burial or cremation of the dead). I also utilized hypermediacy, a combination of different medias, by linking my petition website to the biography of my Instagram account, as well as linking a document with sources from my posts and further readings. My final application was of the cultivation analysis theory, the theory assumes that repeated exposure to a set of messages is likely to produce agreement in an audience with opinions expressed in those messages. I used this by posting at least once every day to keep my account in my followers feed. I also repeatedly promoted my posts on my Instagram story to hopefully bring more attention to them as well. 

[Petition to legalize human composting

screenshot of my petition on change.org

    The second part of my project was the creation of a petition aimed at Governor DeSantis to legalize human composting in Florida. In it I briefly explain the issues with traditional burial practices, introduce the ideas of human composting in comparison, show where it already legal, and then ask viewers to sign. I try to keep it short and sweet, while also trying to give the most necessary information to sway their opinion to sign. For the petition I utilized hypermediacy. I created a QR code that linked to my petition and I spread it all over campus in an attempt to reach a wider audience than I was reaching with my Instagram posts. I also used the course concept of engaging, invite involvement or mobilization, by asking my followers on Instagram to sign my petition as well as by spreading it around campus. 

I applied a problem frame in an attempt to get more people to feel connected to my issue. I identified what the problem was (traditional burial practices) and a solution (legalizing human compost). I attempted to utilize the cultivation analysis theory with my petition as well by sharing it multiple times in multiple different forms. I sent a mass email to the students of the college asking them to sign, posted it on Instagram as a post and a story on multiple accounts, and spread it around the campus physically on QR codes. If you are also interested in helping to legalize human composting in Florida then feel free to sign my petition here.

[Outcomes

My social media account was used to educate people about the sustainability issues surrounding our traditional burial practices, more environmentally friendly alternatives, and to promote my petition to legalize human composting in Florida. Overall I did educate my followers on these issues, and motivated many of them to sign my petition. However I only gained 25 followers in the time that I was executing my project, I would have had more of an impact if I had been able to reach more people. 

My petition was to gain momentum in attempting to legalize human composting in Florida. Other states have either legalized it, or had some kind of legislation brought up about it, however Florida has not even approached the idea. I definitely did raise awareness and motivate people to care about this issue because I garnered 85 signatures (as of 12/12/2022) in support of the cause. While I may not have reached my goal of 100 signatures, I did make some people aware of the issue and convinced them to try and make a change by signing my petition. 


Example of picture posted on @greengrimreaperec in post about human composting




References

Baron, Nancy. Escape from the Ivory Tower: A Guide to Making Your Science Matter. Island Press, 2010.

@gogreensavegreen. “gogreensavegreen.” Instagram, 2021, https://www.instagram.com/p/CVDzpv9vSMP/. Accessed 12 December 2022.

Perry, Hannah-Grace. “greengrimereaperec.” Instagram, Instagram, 2022, https://www.instagram.com/greengrimreaperec/. Accessed 12 December 2022.

Perry, Hannah-Grace. “Legalize Human Composting in Florida.” change.org, 2022, https://chng.it/g8GSfMSC. Accessed 12 December 2022.

Pezzullo, Phaedra C., and J. Robert Cox. Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere. sixth ed., SAGE Publications, Incorporated, 2021.

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