living - sustainable
Report 24 / 2021-06-15
Traditions are repeated habits from the past. They are part of our culture, seen as normal and often ingrained to the point that we don’t think about them in detail. However, time changes, and sometimes we should rethink our traditions. Are they still part of a modern society?

When cremating a body, we use a coffin to hold the body as it’s burned. We can all think of the environmental concerns about producing a coffin for the sole purpose of burning it. Traditions aside, it is a pure waste and an unnecessarily polluting process.

Even though this tradition is one of respect, it is important to allow yourself to rethink it. How respectful is it to pollute our planet? It brings up an important dilemma in which we have to choose between tradition and modernisation. Pollution is not and should not be part of our modern culture, but will our traditions be affected by this change?

An example of a solution that is respectful to our planet is Bob Hendrikx' Living Coffin. Hendrikx believes in a world where humanity works together with nature. Rethinking traditional ideas, he designed the Living Coffin. It is grown from mycelium, a natural underground fungal network. Mycelium is the world's best recycler, and using it as a coffin means your body will truly become one with nature, and become a source for new life.