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Today on Word of Mouth, we’ll hear about life in the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo… where millions of lives have been lost, ecosystems are collapsing, and minerals are being plundered. We’ll also hear a profile of a lone miner, working deep inside a mountain, never far from blazing guns. Plus, from dust to dust - a new method for green burial emerges in Sweden. And Oakland, California looks to tax medical marijuana.

(Photo by Chuck Coker via Flickr/Creative Commons)

War and environmental degradation share a long history.

The Romans blighted the fields of Carthage with salt back in 146 BC. The flattened villages of Flanders...Agent Orange stripping the jungles of Vietnam...the burning oil wells in Iraq. These are just a few illustrations of the long term environmental ruin left after battle. There’s a term for it, in fact: ecocide, literally meaning the killing of the environment.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, 12 years of conflict have cost more than five million human lives. One million people have been displaced, many living in over-crowded camps with little food and little hope. More tragic still, the enduring toll on the environment will likely affect citizens for generations to come. Washington Post reporter Delphine Schrank spent a year in the DRC as an International Reporting Project fellow. She witnessed the bloodshed and the ecocide and joined us on the line from New York with more.

The Atlantic: As Go The Hippos...

(Photo by *Simian* via Flickr/Creative Commons)

Over the past several years, “green” cemeteries have been popping up in Canada, the United Kingdom and the U.S...even here in New Hampshire.

A Swedish company is taking the concept one step further. Promessa Organic AB has developed a technique for composting bodies completely. It involves freezing the corpse with liquid nitrogen until it becomes brittle, then vibrating the cadaver until it breaks down into a fine powder. After a few more steps, family members receive a box of remains that will biodegrade in a shallow grave within twelve months.

The process is called promession and clearly, it’s kind of creepy to explain. So far it’s only been tried on pigs and cows. But the first promatorium could open in Sweden as early as next year. James Glave told us more. He’s a freelance journalist who wrote about promession in the July/August issue of Walrus Magazine. He joined us from Bowen Island, British Columbia as part of our Next Green Thing series.

Walrus Magazine: Decomposting Bodies: What's the Greenest Way to Dispose of Human Remains?

(Photo by hubb-a-dubbs via Flickr/Creative Commons)

In New Hampshire, Gov. John Lynch is weighing the pros and cons of a medical marijuana bill that the legislature approved in June.

Medicinal marijuana has been legal in California since 1996. The dispensaries in the city of Oakland bring $20 million in sales each year. Now the Bay Area city is considering taxing that revenue.

The BBC’s Tania Ketenjian took us inside an Oakland dispensary to find out why people with health problems are turning to a plant instead of a pill.

Listen to Tania Ketenjian's Health Check report at the BBC

(Photo by lochnessjess via Flickr/Creative Commons)