Jae Rhim Lee made a viral video splash with her 2011 TED Talk, My Mushroom Burial Suit. The talk has been viewed more than 1.3 million times.
What started as an exploration of living, dying, recycling systems and the toxin-removing properties of mushrooms has evolved into Coeio, a company that makes green burial products, specifically, the Infinity Burial Suit.
You may have seen her wearing the “ninja pajamas” as she described it in her TED talk. The prototype outfit was impregnated with the spores of mushrooms that accelerate decomposition while removing heavy metals and compounds like BPA from the soil.
The experience propelled her toward starting a business that not only provides a new burial product, but also helps to make death and funerals more emotionally and socially accessible. By offering the Infinity Burial Suit to consumers, she hopes to confront the taboo against discussing death.
At ICCFA, Coeio displayed Infinity Burial Suits for people and for pets, as well as a shroud that can be used for viewing and green burial. They also offer a casket liner that helps speed decomposition while cleaning toxins. All of their products contain the same biomix of mycelium and other mushroom spores and additional microorganisms that together do three things; aid in decomposition, work to neutralize toxins found in the body and transfer nutrients to plant life.
Regarding the reactions of funeral directors at the ICCFA convention, Lee said, “There’s a lot of curiosity about our products, and there’s a lot of interest in how the products work, and I think that when consumers start to ask for this, funeral directors will be more interested in our work.”
The end result of being buried in the Infinity Burial Suit, or any of Coeio’s products, is that bodies are transformed into vital nutrients that enrich the earth and foster new life. Learn more at www.Coeio.com.
How can mushrooms make such a difference in greening our final arrangements? According to information at Coeio’s website:
We are using two different types of mushrooms – saprophytic and mycorrhizal. Saprophytic mushrooms are scientifically proven decomposers. These mushrooms break down material by emitting enzymes and have potential to consume a large variety of food sources. The mycorrhizal mushrooms create relationships with and deliver nutrients to plant roots.
The process by which mushrooms remove or eliminate toxins from the environment is called Mycoremediation. Mushrooms break down toxins in two ways. With organic toxins, mushrooms break down molecular bonds, thus neutralizing toxins or breaking the toxins down into simpler, less toxic chemicals. In other cases, such as with heavy metals, the mushrooms bind the toxins through a process called chelation and in turn make the toxins innocuous.
These various processes only provide positive benefits that save energy and resources, improve the soil, and enrich plant life.
The company already has their first adopter ready to be the first to take the plunge with an Infinity Burial Suit. Dennis White, diagnosed in 2010 with Primary Progressive Aphasia, a terminal brain disease, has been fitted for a burial suit. He’s excited to be buried in it when he eventually dies. This video trailer shows a little about him and the process.