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21 April 2023 Email
Greetings NOR Allies!
Welcome those who joined us (25 people so far!) after reading Angela Woosley, of Inspired Journeys, Op Ed today in the Star Tribune! Please sign into your STrib account and leave a positive comment (I just signed up for a free account so I could like and comment).
We are excited to have you on this journey with us. For past emails, click this link.
Three paragraphs of recap ahead:
Legislation has been submitted to both the Minnesota House (HF2669) and Senate (SF3134) and we hope to have a vote on it in 2024; 2023 is dedicated to education and advocacy!
There is an Action Group that is working on a plan for education and advocacy and we want to hear your ideas. What groups should we talk with? Is there a group you’re affiliated with that would be great for someone, or you!, to share about natural organic reduction? What draws you to NOR and do any talking points come to mind that we could share to aid in letter writing or presenting? We want to expand our reach to any and all constituencies that may have interest, so don’t hold back!
If you want to be part of that Action Group (where responsibilities are assigned!) please reply to this email with your phone number and any pertinent information about yourself. If you simply want to stay in the loop and wait for action items and jump in when you can, then you’re in the right place 🙂
The MN legislative session is done on May 22nd this year. I am working on an email introducing myself to my Representative and Senator, including the issues that are near and dear to me (not just NOR!), perhaps you would consider doing the same to your reps. Please let us know at this email address what you hear back if you do.
More soon – but in the meantime, please share the Op Ed today in the Star Tribune on all your social media channels and comment on the article and like the positive comments that are already there 🙂
Thank you x a million and we really look forward to working with each and every one of you!
Susie
/on behalf of the MN NOR Action Group
Resources:
Ask A Mortician: Let’s Visit a Human Composting Facility!
NOR Facilities in the US currently running:
27 March 2023 Email
As promised, a legislative update from Carolyn! See below for a couple action items.
HF2669 and SF3134 (it will be online soon!) to legalize human compostingwere introduced in the Minnesota House of Representatives on March 6, and March 27, 2023.
HF2669 was introduced in the House of Representatives on March 6th by Representatives (linked so you can learn more about them if you’d like!) John Huot, Mike Freiberg, and Samantha Sencer-Mura. SF 3134 was introduced this morning in the Senate on March 27th by Senators John Marty, Mary Kunesh, and Scott Dibble.
Due to a full docket and carryover from last year’s session, the bill won’t be voted on this year and will be heard in 2024. And the bill won’t have to be reintroduced next year because bills are active for the two-year session; it will seek to be heard in committee and passed in 2024.
With the budget bills (aforementioned “full docket”) taking up the House and Senate’s time, reaching out to our elected officials will be on hold until those folks can catch their breath…there’s much we can do in the meantime!
The Recompose MN resource website will be updated soon.
Action items: I’d love to build a talking points list. Please email me what draws you to NOR in concise wording. I hope people will be able to use our ideas for creating their own, original letters to their reps, newspapers, and talks with their communities. For example:
- Expanded choice in methods of body disposition is important to me
- Access to a method of body disposition that actually helps the environment instead of harming
Let’s start a working group to discuss planning letter writing campaigns, both to our reps and Senators when the time comes and letters to editors, tabling, etc. If you are interested in being part of that group that keeps the ball rolling, please email me and include your phone number in your email. If you don’t have time or interest, fret not! We will be in touch with action items throughout the year!
Thank you all again. And a HUGE thanks and kudos to Carolyn for *literally* walking this bill through both the House and then Senate. Thank you, Carolyn!!!
Susie
A long read:
To Be a Field of Poppies by Lisa Wells
An article from group member Mindy Keskinen about Katrina’s talk in Jan!
Eco-friendly burial options gaining notice
See also her local group’s website:
Here are some EOL Instagram accounts you may be interested in checking out:
@recomposelife
@thegooddeath
@endwell
24 March 2023 Email
Greetings fellow humans for change!
We’ve had a hitch in our giddy up: we’ve been advised that this year’s legislative docket is full with catch up from previous years of disappointing productivity. That said, Carolyn is doing the leg work to get this going in the House and Senate to prepare for next year – more on that on Monday!
Very exciting news released from Recompose two days ago is that they are engaged in a campaign on Wefunder for small investors from $1,000 – $25,000 to invest in Recompose’s expansion. Check out the gorgeous pitch page here: Recompose Wefunder.
In personal/NOR updates, I had the opportunity to tour Recompose in Seattle two weeks ago and it was amazing to be in the building I’ve been reading about for 5 years, doing the process I’ve been following for 13 years! If you find yourself in the Seattle area, I highly recommend taking a tour!
Later that week I was able to attend the Inaugural Human Composting Conference hosted by Lafayette, CO NOR provider, The Natural Funeral Home. It was two days of meeting incredible people who are on the front lines of the modern death care movement, including Katrina and Caitlin Doughty of Ask A Mortician fame among many other modern death care leaders. The videos from these sessions will become available for purchase at some stage in the future and when I hear about that, so will you.
Here is a link to some photos I took on those two adventures. There are captions, so move your cursor around the screen until they appear if you’re interested. We did a mock laying in ceremony at the conference, so there is a picture of a living human in a composting vessel. His name is Ray and he was AOK for the duration of the exercise. There is also a shrouded figure (carboard boxes, named Jeff) in the Recompose photos, rest assured that is not a human. The laying in was incredibly moving and moved my personal decision for disposition from natural burial to NOR. Hopefully in Minnesota 🙂
More on next steps soon. We are interested in your ideas moving forward, too, of course! Reach out anytime. As a kick off of sorts, I’d like to host a very casual happy hour to get to know each other offline. I’ll send more about that soon!
Many thanks for you continued support and interest.
All the spring-y best,
Susie
PS Here’s a link to an end of life resources list I’ve been compiling as I come across them 🙂 Let me know your favorites for me to add!