Many people plan their dream weddings, so why not Design Your Dream Funeral? Our group designed an app that would recreate digitally the pre-planning process of a funeral and burial with a funeral director to allow for transparency in both cost and environmental footprint.
MY FUNERAL FOOTPRINT: The My Funeral Footprint Rating System helps consumers calculate their environmental impact during the pre-planning process of their funeral. It measures the impacts of each death-care product or service offering on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being the heaviest impact, 5 being the lowest or most regenerative). The rating system allows funeral homes the opportunity to foster sustainable behavior change among their customers through awareness and education, increasing demand for eco-friendly products – such as the examples listed below beside each rating – and encouraging the industry to become more sustainable.
5
No body prep, rental casket, bamboo casket, infinity burial suit, carbon offsets, conservation burial ground
4
Bios Urn, Eternal Reef, cardboard casket, Trappist Monk casket, muslin cotton wrap shroud
3
Simple pine casket, simple direct cremation, scattering of ashes, ecoembalming, bamboo urn
2
Mausoleum crypt, home funeral, viewing, basic urn, cosmetology, burial of ashes
1
Life Gem diamond, traditional burial plot, premium granite headstone, artificial flowers
REFRIGERATION
INFINITY SUIT
GRAVESIDE SERVICE
CONSERVATION BURIAL GROUND
4.4
ASTRID BEANE, ECO-CRUSADER 28-year-old founder of a women-led health tech startup. She embraced the Colorado lifestyle when she moved there for university and spends almost every weekend mountain biking in summer and snowboarding in winter. She is fastidious about recycling and sustainability at work and home. After the unexpected death of her mother earlier this year when she had to make last-minute arrangements, she now wants to ensure her funeral will be green and that she will be buried in a conservation burial ground with a tree planted as a grave marker.
THE BIOS URN & INFINITY BURIAL SUIT
TOTAL COST:
$5,710
TREE PLANTING