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The Radical Reaper: Sandra’s Green Vision
25 Plays2 years ago
What if the final stage of your human journey could support the circle of life in the most natural and earth-friendly way?
Welcome to an inspiring discussion that pushes the boundaries of tradition and catalyzes a much-needed conversation about eco-consciousness, even after life. In today's episode, Jennifer dives into that which is not just shaking the ground, but actually, returns us to it.
Join Jennifer and Sandra, aka ‘The Radical Reaper,’ as they explore this groundbreaking concept, shedding light on how we can take our environmental responsibilities beyond our human experience. Get ready to redefine the cycle of life and death, as we explore the delicate, but profound intersection of mortality, dignity, and eco-consciousness.
One of Sandra’s goals for 2023 is to get the word out there, and educate families on their rights in the funeral service.
What are the thoughts of our fellow Irish people? Do you think alkaline hydrolysis or green burial will take off in Ireland?
LITTLE NUGGETS OF GOLD:
- How Sandra, The Radical Reaper, became a licensed mortician in three states.
- Freelance funeral director? Explore the possibility of stepping into the world of freelancing!
- TheEnd.Green Foundation: Providing access to education, support, & funding for those advancing a more symbiotic relationship with death and dying.
- What happens when our planet’s burial space reaches its full capacity?
- The green future of human composting, alkaline hydrolysis, and other types of green burial arrangements.
Connect with Sandra Baker:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandra-baker-4106b71a6
Instagram: @The_Radical_Reaper
Website: www.theradicalreaper.org
Connect with Jennifer/The Glam Reaper:
Facebook Page - Muldowney Memorials: https://www.facebook.com/MuldowneyMemorials/
Facebook Page - Rainbow Bridge Memorials: https://www.facebook.com/rainbowbridgememorialsdotcom
Instagram - @muldowneymemorials & @jennifermuldowney
Twitter - @TheGlamReaper
Email us here: glamreaperpodcast@gmail.com
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Transcript
Introduction to the Radical Reaper Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of the Glam Reaper podcast.
00:00:03
Speaker
I'm your host Jennifer Muldowney aka the Glam Reaper herself.
00:00:07
Speaker
On today's episode one Reaper meets another one.
00:00:11
Speaker
We are talking to the radical Reaper.
00:00:14
Speaker
Let's take it away.
00:00:25
Speaker
Okay, hi everybody and welcome to another episode of the Glam Reaper podcast.
00:00:30
Speaker
On today's episode, we have another Reaper.
00:00:33
Speaker
How dare she?
00:00:34
Speaker
No, I joke, I just, we have the Radical Reaper.
00:00:38
Speaker
So Radical versus Glam.
00:00:39
Speaker
I'd say yours is probably a lot better.
00:00:41
Speaker
Sandy, welcome.
00:00:43
Speaker
Oh, thank you so much for having me.
00:00:46
Speaker
And I feel like it's great to share a name with someone who's so cool.
00:00:50
Speaker
Thank you.
00:00:51
Speaker
And I always laugh at the glam of mine because I am no more glamorous than the man in the moon.
00:00:56
Speaker
But anyway, we'll go with it.
00:00:58
Speaker
It's what the media gave me.
00:01:00
Speaker
So tell me, Sandy, give us a little bit of backstory as to who you are and what you're doing.
Sandy's Background and Licensing
00:01:05
Speaker
So I am a mortician.
00:01:06
Speaker
I'm actually licensed in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
00:01:11
Speaker
currently.
00:01:13
Speaker
I'm a Baltimore City girl.
00:01:15
Speaker
I was born in the city and I've lived in Baltimore most of my life.
00:01:19
Speaker
I only just now moved out of the county.
00:01:21
Speaker
And I sort of got into the funeral industry because I saw someone die in front of my house when I was really young.
00:01:29
Speaker
And I'm fortunate enough to have a mom who explained things to me at a very young age that
00:01:34
Speaker
death was a natural event that happened to everyone and that it didn't need to be scary.
00:01:40
Speaker
And we just kind of were very open about the conversations from there.
00:01:47
Speaker
And so you're licensed in three states.
00:01:49
Speaker
That's wonderful.
00:01:50
Speaker
And that's quite unusual, actually, really, isn't it?
00:01:53
Speaker
Most people get licensed in one state and sort of seem to stay within that state, right?
00:01:59
Speaker
I think a lot of the times it really depends on where you are.
00:02:03
Speaker
Where I was working here in Maryland for a while, I was kind of right on the border of all three of these states.
00:02:10
Speaker
And because of that reason, we had a lot of families that we would serve in those areas.
00:02:14
Speaker
And it just made a lot of sense.
00:02:16
Speaker
I was able to transition my license over.
00:02:18
Speaker
So I just had to take the state law exams and it wasn't too difficult of a process.
00:02:23
Speaker
But it made things really easy for us.
00:02:25
Speaker
That's really good.
00:02:26
Speaker
And that does indeed make an awful lot of sense.
00:02:28
Speaker
I lived in D.C.
00:02:30
Speaker
in Alexandria, actually, for a while, which, again, to your point.
00:02:35
Speaker
So Alexandria, for anybody who doesn't know, is actually technically Virginia.
00:02:39
Speaker
But people who live in Alexandria will often say I lived in D.C.
00:02:42
Speaker
or whatever.
00:02:43
Speaker
So those border counties from that tri-state area are very important.
00:02:48
Speaker
intimate, shall we say.
00:02:49
Speaker
So it definitely makes sense for you to be licensed across the board.
Freelance Work and Variety in the Funeral Industry
00:02:54
Speaker
And tell us, what do you what do you make of the are you working in a funeral home right now?
00:02:59
Speaker
I am not.
00:03:01
Speaker
I was working at a funeral home, but it was quite a distance away and we just weren't quite a good fit.
00:03:07
Speaker
So right now I'm just kind of hanging out, doing some park climb work at the local morgue.
00:03:14
Speaker
Testing your options and that sort of thing.
00:03:15
Speaker
Well, that's good.
00:03:17
Speaker
And a lot of people probably don't know as well that...
00:03:20
Speaker
funeral directors can actually freelance as well.
00:03:24
Speaker
Like just like any other job, you can work for a variety of different funeral homes and things like that, right?
00:03:30
Speaker
Exactly.
00:03:31
Speaker
And that's sort of what I've been doing right now.
00:03:33
Speaker
I do removals for some funeral homes around when they need something local.
00:03:39
Speaker
And then I do a lot of work working over at our local medical examiner's office and things of that nature as well.
00:03:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:46
Speaker
And that can be really good, I think, especially for someone, you know, young to see what what part of funeral world they like, you know, what part of the funeral profession, because sometimes you automatically come out and you find yourself in a funeral home and that sort of that's it.
00:04:03
Speaker
But I find in my experience, a lot of funeral directors have it.
00:04:08
Speaker
they're they're naturally better at certain parts, whether it's embalming, whether it's, you know, the removals or whether it's talking to people and talking to families.
00:04:16
Speaker
Right.
00:04:17
Speaker
Yes, exactly.
Passion for Green Burial and Conservation
00:04:19
Speaker
And I think a huge part of the issue, too, is when you have someone like myself who really is passionate about green burial and you kind of sometimes it just makes more sense to work with a variety of different funeral hymns as opposed to limiting yourself to one.
00:04:37
Speaker
So you're able to serve and help a larger clientele.
00:04:41
Speaker
Yeah, and that's brilliantly brought us on to the next topic that I was going to ask you about, which is you, we've obviously had Melissa, the modern mortician on twice now on the Glamour podcast, which is we love Melissa.
00:04:58
Speaker
And so she's a part of this nonprofit.
00:05:01
Speaker
She started this nonprofit funeral home.
00:05:03
Speaker
Are you a part of that?
00:05:05
Speaker
Can you talk any more about your vision for it if you are a part of it or have anything to do with it with her?
00:05:12
Speaker
Yes, absolutely.
00:05:13
Speaker
Well, you might recognize Kermit there with us today.
00:05:18
Speaker
And yes, I am so fortunate to be working with Melissa to help get the N Foundation up and running.
00:05:26
Speaker
It's something near and dear to both of us.
00:05:29
Speaker
And our goal truly, and I say it's simple, it's not quite simple, but
00:05:34
Speaker
But we want to create a conservation burial park and nonprofit funeral home.
00:05:39
Speaker
We're going to start things out on the Pacific Northwest where Melissa lives.
00:05:45
Speaker
And the goal is to be able to have a space where families are able to come out and utilize the land for free to low cost and where we are able to provide funeral services.
00:05:57
Speaker
Something that's really important to both of us is making sure that we can make green burial accessible to more than just the rich white elite.
00:06:07
Speaker
I found that one of the biggest barriers with funeral service is the cost, particularly the cost of burial.
00:06:13
Speaker
So our hope is that if we're able to provide this land and this space and we can help with guidance, that it'll take away a big chunk of that barrier.
00:06:22
Speaker
And if it works and we're successful, which I think that we will be, the goal is to be able to bring it to areas here like Baltimore, where I can really help to service our marginalized communities.
00:06:33
Speaker
Right.
00:06:34
Speaker
Now, what do you, because obviously the big problem with burial is we're running out of burial space, you know, and especially not in the US maybe right now, definitely in more of the cities and suburban style areas.
00:06:50
Speaker
You know, in the likes of Asia, it's 99.9% cremation rate.
00:06:55
Speaker
So what would you do when that land reaches capacity?
00:06:59
Speaker
Is there a plan for that or is that kind of, that's amazing and so then we will move on to the next one type thing?
00:07:06
Speaker
I think it's once we have that land filled, we'll be able to roll it over and have it used for conservation.
00:07:14
Speaker
Our goal is to be able to use this land not only for burials, but for things like farming,
00:07:19
Speaker
with lavender, maybe chickens, so that we're able to have eggs.
00:07:24
Speaker
So even once we reach a point where we're no longer able to provide burials and we have to move on to acquire more land, we'll be able to use the land that we do have to continue to give back to our environment.
00:07:35
Speaker
And it's just kind of a way to kind of, it saves, even though we've utilized that space, we'll be able to maintain it in a green way.
00:07:42
Speaker
Right.
00:07:43
Speaker
Very cool.
00:07:44
Speaker
I mean, I know a lot about I know a lot about a lot of things, but I don't know an awful lot about a lot of things as well.
00:07:53
Speaker
So, I mean, I'm fascinated to watch this project grow and, you know, anything that supports the environment and anything that helps people who are.
00:08:01
Speaker
you know, in need, I am 100% supporting of.
00:08:04
Speaker
So good luck to both of you and to the project in general.
Discussion on Human Composting
00:08:09
Speaker
Keeping with, I guess, green burial and the fact that, you know, this idea that we're running out of space and the world over and stuff for burial and cremation being so popular, probably because it's price, you know, price is definitely a factor.
00:08:23
Speaker
I was talking to somebody only
00:08:25
Speaker
recently about how much burials and then gravestones themselves cost, you know.
00:08:32
Speaker
What do you make of human composting?
00:08:35
Speaker
I am a huge fan of human composting.
00:08:38
Speaker
I've actually been working really, really hard with our local legislation here in Maryland to get that legalized as a form of disposition.
00:08:47
Speaker
Maryland is one of the few states where alkaline hydrolysis or acclimation is also legalized.
00:08:53
Speaker
However, no one is currently offering it.
00:08:56
Speaker
So I would really, really love to be a part of and hopefully see both human composting as well as acclimation become legal here in our state so that that's something that we can utilize for our families.
00:09:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's it's amazing how much those two have progressed.
00:09:14
Speaker
New York being the latest state that joined on the human composting bandwagon, which is amazing.
00:09:20
Speaker
It was, I think, the very first day, January 1st, 2023.
00:09:24
Speaker
So what a way to start the year.
00:09:25
Speaker
And I'm a big fan of it myself.
00:09:29
Speaker
I actually was very dubious and very cynical, I have to say, because I had...
00:09:35
Speaker
have a background in environmental and body and disposition and that sort of thing.
00:09:40
Speaker
So I had a massive interest in anything like alkaline hydrolysis.
00:09:45
Speaker
And so I was always cynical, I have to say, about what they were.
00:09:49
Speaker
But I remember it was quite a while ago now, I went to see Katrina doing a talk in Greenwood Cemetery.
00:09:58
Speaker
And I just, while I haven't, and this is, I'm holding my hand up, I haven't seen it in action and I have no proof or evidence or anything to back up what I'm saying.
00:10:08
Speaker
It was during that talk that I definitely felt like this is an actual thing.
00:10:13
Speaker
This is an actual thing.
00:10:14
Speaker
And I know
00:10:15
Speaker
she has done it like human bodies are going through it and it's happening um but i have to say it's one of my bucket list items to definitely try and get there to see the um to see it in action to actually see it um happening um and i think that's probably a lot of people are kind of thinking that way um i found with my own
00:10:36
Speaker
environmental disposition background that I felt people need to see proof before they'll sort of accept something.
00:10:43
Speaker
I mean, that's just the human condition and the way we are.
00:10:45
Speaker
We like evidence.
00:10:47
Speaker
Yes.
00:10:48
Speaker
And, you know, I always find it's been in my experience that if you can convince grandma and mama that it is a reasonable option and you can show them something tangible,
00:11:01
Speaker
Then, you know, that can make it something more palatable for the rest of the family.
00:11:06
Speaker
But like you said, you know, it is a it's kind of a you have to see it to believe it and understand it.
00:11:12
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
Potential of Human Composting in Ireland
00:11:13
Speaker
And it's it's if if when it is obviously going to be a form of disposition, I personally and I only just wrote an article about this that I think Ireland and we we right now don't have alkaline hydrolysis or human composting, but I actually think of all of them.
00:11:33
Speaker
I think human composting could potentially be the one that takes off in Ireland just because we are naturally very land and very farming focused country.
00:11:42
Speaker
We always have been, you know, our beef is sold all over the world.
00:11:45
Speaker
I think McDonald's even buys Irish beef because it's of such high quality.
00:11:49
Speaker
So I do think that human composting could potentially be something that could be huge in Ireland.
00:11:54
Speaker
which would be great to see.
00:11:56
Speaker
But yeah, so you're definitely involved in all things green, all things burial, non-profit.
Future Plans: Aquamation and Advocacy
00:12:05
Speaker
What is your goal for 2023?
00:12:08
Speaker
So one of our biggest goals is hopefully to be able to start serving families for aquamation and for pets, I should specify, here in Maryland and on the Pacific West Coast.
00:12:21
Speaker
That way, you know, we're able to
00:12:24
Speaker
start getting some fundraising, we're starting able to do education.
00:12:29
Speaker
And truly education is at the heart of everything that we do.
00:12:34
Speaker
I came into this and one of my first love is always going to be the work that I do with the Radical Collective for Death Studies.
00:12:40
Speaker
You know, our, one of our main focuses is helping to de-center whiteness and decolonize deaf education.
00:12:47
Speaker
And that's a big part of what we want to do at the end too.
00:12:50
Speaker
If we can just get the word out there and help to educate families on not only green methods, but the rights that they have in the funeral service, and we can kind of create some transparency, I think that we can really create a massive leap for the funeral industry.
00:13:09
Speaker
And I think that's one of our main goals for 2023.
00:13:13
Speaker
That's amazing.
Closing Remarks and Call for Listener Feedback
00:13:15
Speaker
Well, Sandy, thank you so much for being on the Glam Reaper podcast.
00:13:19
Speaker
I think that's a beautiful note to end because it's so positive and, you know, giving to others, which we love here at the Glam Reaper podcast.
00:13:26
Speaker
So thank you so much.
00:13:28
Speaker
This is the radical Reaper.
00:13:29
Speaker
We're going to leave all your links and everything down below.
00:13:32
Speaker
And please check her out on social media and check out the end and their nonprofit funeral home.
00:13:40
Speaker
um which we will share that down below as well and thank you so much
00:13:53
Speaker
so that was sandy aka the radical reaper we want to hear your thoughts on a not for non-profit funeral home and what are your thoughts on green burial human composting alkaline hydrolysis is this something you would want to see irish people i want to hear from you because i would love to see something like this coming to ireland and but i'd love to hear your thoughts do you think it would work do you think it wouldn't work
00:14:17
Speaker
um also those states that do have it what are your thoughts do you think you would get composted do you think you'd go alkaline hydrolysis route tell me i want to hear from you glam reaper podcast at gmail.com and we'll see you again soon