If NOR is In Your Future, You Can’t Miss Return Home’s TerraCon 2024 

While progress sometimes seems sluggish in most areas of deathcare, natural organic reduction (NOR), or human composting, is bucking that trend — big time. In just three short years, seven states have legalized NOR, and legislation is pending in several others. Chances are your state’s lawmakers — and probably your own team — have started discussions about bringing NOR to the communities you serve. If NOR is anywhere on your radar, you owe it to yourself to attend TerraCon 2024, Return Home’s first annual body composting conference on February 21 and 22  in Tacoma, Washington.

CEO Micah Truman and his Return Home team have assembled a stunning slate of speakers for the two-day event. Their topics will lead attendees on a comprehensive journey through all aspects of NOR, or Terramation, as Truman has dubbed the process. In fact, you could easily walk away with your own blueprints for legalizing, championing, and instituting Terramation in your own state and facility.

“They can come to Washington, get functional language for legislation, talk to the regulators and actually come up with a workable solution,” Truman says. “Our speaker lineup is so cool.”

You’ll find a full agenda at the TerraCon 2024 registration site, but we asked Micah Truman to tell us a little more about what attendees can expect.

Testimonies from Terramation families — including a state lawmaker

Representative Pam Marsh, a state senator from Oregon, not only led the charge to legalize NOR, but also entrusted her husband’s disposition to Return Home. Marsh, along with several other Terramation families, will speak at TerraCon.

“Pam made sure the bill passed, and six months after it passed, her husband died,” Truman recalled. “And she brought him to us. Three other families are coming, including one whose son’s covering with organics was filmed at her request. That video has been viewed more than 53 million times.”

Marsh will explain her process of sponsoring, drafting, and approving NOR legislation in Oregon, while other Terramation families will share their personal experiences.

Practical guidance on legal and ethical considerations 

Attorney Scott Schiff will cover what Truman calls “this crazy patchwork of laws that are coming through and how to navigate them.”

Because every state introducing NOR has created its own unique legislation, it can be difficult to understand how laws in your own area work, not to mention working with a provider in another state. Schiff will answer questions like what happens when someone dies in one state but experiences NOR in another, or how do the states’ laws dictate where the soil can be used?

Real-world advice from international NOR CEOs

Truman will join fellow CEOs Seth Viddal and Pablo Metz on a panel discussing the business of Terramation. Viddal is a Managing Partner at The Natural Funeral in Lafayette, Colorado, which offers natural death care and environmentally mindful options. Metz recently opened Meine Erde (My Earth) in Berlin, Germany, Europe’s first Terramation provider.

“We’re excited to have these different companies in Berlin and in Colorado,” Truman says. “At the end of the day, we are competitors, but if you don’t have competitors, you don’t have an industry. We need this. Otherwise, we’re not going to get anywhere.”

Information from the OG NOR regulatory experts

In May 2020, Washington was the first state to legalize Terramation; by April 2021, the first NOR facilities were up and running. Today, Return Home is one of several thriving —and well-regulated — NOR operations in the state. TerraCon attendees will have the unique opportunity to hear directly from the regulators in charge of NOR in Washington in a four-person moderated panel.

“Cameron Smock and Scott Sheehan, among others, helped to fine tune the language [of Terramation] so that it could be made into law,” Truman says. “And with them will be Pam Griese and Molly Dinardo from our state’s Department of Licensing and Board of Health. These are the guys who wrote it and the folks who regulate it, and they’re all going to be on the same stage.”

The regulatory aspect of Terramation, Truman explains, can be one of the most confusing and misunderstood, especially since the concept is so new and, really, so different from traditional burial and cremation. 

“It’s a multi-stage process that’s quite involved and complicated,” Truman says. “Pam and Molly will answer questions like, ‘How did you guys regulate something that’s actually not done in one place, but is an actual system?’ and ‘How do you check it?’ It matters so much. Imagine if we have a group that comes in that’s not ethical; who’s going to check them?”

Words of support from funeral directors, people of faith, and former “doubters”

Three separate panels will provide first-hand testimonies and perspectives on NOR from what might be considered unexpected sources. On Wednesday, Clair Ferris and Shaune Hudson will present “End-of-life Planning for a Sustainable Afterlife.” Ferris and Hudson are both members of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or LDS, and are long-time second- and third-generation funeral directors. 

On Thursday, “Role of Ritual and Memorialization in Green Deathcare” will feature panelists Russ Weeks, Jamin Mohler, and Gary Sulz — the first two, experienced funeral directors and funeral home owners, and the third, a long-time director and the mayor of a small town in Canada. What they have in common is that all three were openly skeptical about the process of Terramation.

“You know, I love the ‘doubters,’” Truman says. “You know, when someone walks into the room and says, ‘This is a bunch of hoo hoo.’ Our panelists are traditional, religiously observant Christian people who, at first, were not on board with Terramation. Now, though, they’ve all had families come to us, or they’ve brought their own family members or loved ones to us.”

Sulz will share a particularly touching story of his involvement in fulfilling the final wishes of a 19-year-old firefighter from his community. He personally escorted her from their hometown to the Return Home facility in Washington to oversee her Terramation.

Lastly, a third panel will delve into how Terramation meshes with cultural and religious traditions. Rev. Susan Cutshall will moderate a panel featuring Rabbi Daniel Weiner and Pastor Dan Lloyd as they discuss that subject from the perspectives of the Jewish, Christian, and Buddhist faiths.

“We’re finding our families in such difficult straits,” when it comes to how their faith feels about NOR, Truman explains. “”They want to do something that seems to not have permission. So we’ve asked these speakers to give us guidance for their families.”

Answers to your most-asked questions

One question that pretty much everyone has about Terramation, no matter what their role in or outside of deathcare, is probably the basic, “How does it work?” Two experts, John Paul, PhD PAg, and Chris Stone will cover this in “Science of Human Composting: Delving into the Biological and Chemical Process” on Thursday.

Another question that is guaranteed to come up in Terramation conversations concerns placement of the soil. Lees & Associates will tackle that topic for TerraCon attendees.

“Frankly, at Return Home, we don’t have an answer for it yet,” Truman says. “We need to create a new paradigm where cemeteries have places for scattered, permeated remains. Lees & Associates are cemetery designers, and they’re going to talk about that new paradigm and how cemeteries need to be designed.”

Any additional questions about the process might be answered with the optional visit to the Return Home facilities in Auburn, Washington, on Friday, February 23. Enjoy lunch, a guided tour by the Return Homies, and special insights for this “Only at TerraCon” opportunity. 

Inspiration from an innovator

TerraCon 2024’s keynote speaker, BJ Miller, will discuss Terramation’s role in holistic deathcare. Miller lost both his legs and one arm as a result of being electrocuted in 1990. Since then, he’s blazed a trail of innovation and inspiration as a physician, educator, author, and speaker. His 

2015 TED Talk, “What Really Matters at the End of Life” has garnered more than 17 million views … and Micah Truman might be his biggest fan. 

“He’s a legend, and I knew he’d be such an eloquent keynote for us,” Truman told Connecting Directors in November 2022. “He’s such a remarkable guy, a brilliant dude. And he looks like Superman.”

Book your spot now!

It’s not too late to purchase tickets to TerraCon 2024 and snag a hotel room at a discounted rate. Check out the TerraCon 2024 event page today, and make plans to join your fellow colleagues and questioners at the premier Terramation event. You’re guaranteed to leave with the answers you’re seeking and a solid blueprint for supporting and implementing NOR in your community.