If you're working on end-of-life plans for you or a loved one, you might want to consider a relatively new option - being turned to stone.
Not like an "Oh hell I looked at Medusa and now I'm a statue!" turned to stone, but an "Oh wow now I'm an aesthetically-pleasing pile of 40-to-80 polished stones!" turned to stone.
The company Parting Stone launched in 2020 in the U.S., and their service takes the ashes from cremation and turns them into a paste. They then turn that paste into stone-like objects, polish them, and send them back in the mail in a pretty, wooden box.
When they launched, the service cost $595 USD, and as of this writing has skyrocketed to $2,495 USD.
You're able to order direct and send ashes through Canada Post, but if you'd rather let a funeral home handle it there are many in Canada that offer Parting Stone in their suite of services.
If you're looking for ways "decarbonize death," further processing ashes after cremation is likely not for you, but it certainly caught the interest of this column writer who plans to be cremated after he goes.
Heck, Hunter S. Thompson's ashes were blown out of a cannon with fireworks after his passing, and this stones option is likely much less carbon-intensive than his celebration was.
Don't feel too bad about it.
