Becoming a Tree When You Die - Matthew Kochmann // Founder and CEO of Transcend

Disruptors for GOOD | Social Entrepreneurs and Social Enterprises

In Episode 154 of the Disruptors for Good podcast, we speak with Matthew Kochmann, founder and CEO of Transcend, on the green burial movement and helping people and pets become trees when they die.

What is a Green Burial?

A green burial, also known as a natural burial or eco-friendly burial, is a type of burial that involves minimal impact on the environment. This typically involves using only natural materials to bury the body and avoid using any toxic chemicals or processes.

There are many different reasons why someone might choose a green burial instead of a traditional burial. Some people believe that this type of burial is more respectful of the natural world and can help to preserve the environment.

Others simply prefer the simple, natural process over more traditional funerary practices.

What is a Tree Burial?

Our bodies are filled with hyper-rich nutrients that go to waste when cremated or buried in a casket. Finally, there’s a better way to repurpose our bodies by returning them to the earth to feed and nourish forest ecosystems for decades.

Transcend’s Tree Burial™ process utilizes a unique fungi-enriched soil mixture that facilitates a direct connection between the nutrient-rich body and the root system of the tree planted above.

In this way, the body can biologically become the tree, creating and sustaining life for everything around it.

About Matthew Kochmann

From a young age, Matthew Kochmann faced medical and mental health challenges that forced him to confront his own mortality, awakening a lifelong fascination with how humans relate to the mystery of death.

In an attempt to integrate a more accepting approach, he turned to nature… Matthew found solace and inspiration in the central tenets of the American Transcendentalism movement forged by Emerson along with the ancient Vedic philosophies of India: that all living things are interconnected, even after death.

While poetic, he was emboldened to learn that this is also scientifically true in the natural world; when an organism is returned to the earth, it creates more life for everything around it.

With a Landscape Architecture degree from Cornell University, a track record of success as a serial entrepreneur, and experience as a land developer, it’s only natural that Matthew is bringing Tree Burial into existence.

Creating values-aligned impact for the collective has always been his primary aspiration. Most notably, as employee #7 at Uber, he led the charge in transforming NYC’s antiquated and offline taxi industry, only to ultimately walk away from a life-changing amount of equity over ethical concerns.

Matthew’s unique blend of regulatory and real estate knowledge, infused with a spiritually-inspired passion for the environment makes him the ideal steward for the Future Tree movement.

About Transcend

Transcend is the first company dedicated to reforesting the world by planting people (and pets) as trees when they die. Launching in October 2022, Transcend’s unique Tree Burial™ process is a climate change solution that repurposes the most life-giving natural resource known to mankind: our bodies.

A bold, carbon negative alternative to caskets and cremation, Tree Burial creates life from death by returning people to the earth naturally so their biology can literally live on as a tree.

Transcend is pioneering the Future Tree movement to help people cultivate a healthier relationship with their mortality and the planet. By using nature as a vehicle, Tree Burial reminds us that endings are always beginnings.