Perhaps this is a taboo topic, but to anyone concerned about the environment, it’s important to understand how current funeral practices are resource wasteful and even toxic to the environment. And in response, there is now a growing ecologically-driven death care industry that looks to create new funeral rituals for families while re-thinking how to handle the bodies of the deceased. Katrina Spade is the architect at the forefront of this movement, and to help better understand what drives her, and what the options are, watch her recent TED talk Here. She has also developed a program called The Urban Death Project that is piloting new ways to both honor the dead and respect the environment. For further details, check out its website Here.