Alternative Burials

[AllieBaba]

I kinda like the idea of a viking burial. Toss my ass on a wooden rickety boat, set it afire and shove it off to burn on the water.

Chances are it would just wash back up about 50 yards down the shore. Probably on a stretch of beach where feral dogs hang out, lol.

There are some Tibetans (I think) who feed their dead to the vultures, which in all is probably a pretty intelligent way to handle things. I think they then collect up the bones and maybe burn them or something.

New Orleans has always had a terrible problem with the disposal of the dead because not only have they historically had large numbers of people die off here and there but the water table is so high that frequently, the buried people don't stay buried. They sort of pop back up. That would be fun.

Death holds no horror for me, and I'm not particularly concerned about the impact our dead bodies have on the Earth. I'm not all that keen about everyone dumping their dead people in the water, though. Blech.

I will bury my loved ones, and eventually I will be buried, in a traditional grave, in simple caskets.

I'm a fan of tradition, for the most part, and like the connection that time honored rituals provide. I find funerals comforting; they provide an appropriate outlet for grief and for commiserating with loved ones over a loss, and a proper venue for saying goodbye. Nothing irritates me so much as people who have loving families who idiotically refuse to have a funeral service out of *respect* for the dead, who in their misguided stoicism have commanded that the family bury them with no ceremony.

Death deserves a ceremony, and the people who remain do, too.

 

[Ringel05]

Bury me in a box made of green (uncured) cedar, in time I'll become an Ent..........

 

[AllieBaba]

There are burial laws that affect what sort of container you go in, you know. While plain boxes may be okay, I think they have to be in a sort of vault (grave liner) so the effect is lost.

 

[AllieBaba]

And I don't mind. I don't want dead people seepage in my drinking water, tanks!

 

[zzzz]

The major release of mercury into the atmosphere during cremation is mainly for those individuals who have mercury fillings in their teeth. So after all the baby boomers die off the mercury emission issue will be moot. The expenditure of energy however can be an issue but look at the expenditures made on funerals anyway. Look at the gas for the funeral procession, the gas used by all the people who will come to the visitation and funeral. Anyway you look at it there is going to be pollution and energy used to dispose of your body. Unless you go out in the forest and die and let nature take its course, of course.


http://www.ejnet.org/crematoria/reindl.pdf

 

[California Girl]

I was reading this article and it occurred to me that I've never really given any thought to the downside of dying, or as the author puts it 'how to die without killing the planet' (I thought that was pretty funny).

I quite like the alternatives rather than traditional burials or cremation. Some of the facts in that article are quite depressing reading.... like the facts about cemeteries and the impact of cremations!! Wow, I soooo did not know this stuff.

Have a read and consider the options. Which of the options outlined in the article would you choose? Do you care about the damage to the planet that you cause by dying, you selfish SOBs?

Personally, my request is to burn my ass and toss me in a field or the ocean. Ashes don't hurt anything, do they? I haven't read the article yet, though, so I guess I'll find out.

Actually, according to the article cremation is bad for the environment. It outlines the damage which, I confess, I hadn't thought of. Being Catholic, we don't do cremation but I'd be up for my mortal remains being disposed of in any of the ways outlined in the article. I think they're pretty cool.

 

[California Girl]

The major release of mercury into the atmosphere during cremation is mainly for those individuals who have mercury fillings in their teeth. So after all the baby boomers die off the mercury emission issue will be moot. The expenditure of energy however can be an issue but look at the expenditures made on funerals anyway. Look at the gas for the funeral procession, the gas used by all the people who will come to the visitation and funeral. Anyway you look at it there is going to be pollution and energy used to dispose of your body. Unless you go out in the forest and die and let nature take its course, of course.


http://www.ejnet.org/crematoria/reindl.pdf

Clearly some people struggle with the concept of reading articles being discussed. Seriously, I wonder why I bother making the effort to find an article to discuss when it appears no one has the ability to click on a link, read for 3 minutes and then comment.

 

[zzzz]

The major release of mercury into the atmosphere during cremation is mainly for those individuals who have mercury fillings in their teeth. So after all the baby boomers die off the mercury emission issue will be moot. The expenditure of energy however can be an issue but look at the expenditures made on funerals anyway. Look at the gas for the funeral procession, the gas used by all the people who will come to the visitation and funeral. Anyway you look at it there is going to be pollution and energy used to dispose of your body. Unless you go out in the forest and die and let nature take its course, of course.


http://www.ejnet.org/crematoria/reindl.pdf

Clearly some people struggle with the concept of reading articles being discussed. Seriously, I wonder why I bother making the effort to find an article to discuss when it appears no one has the ability to click on a link, read for 3 minutes and then comment.

I wonder if you really read the article yourself. I did and I focused on the cremation comments about mercury release. I did not realize that mercury was released into the atmosphere during cremation so I had to do a little research. No matter the form of disposal there will always be some contamination. The mercury is a concern but I wonder what percentage it is compared to mercury releases by industrial sources.

 

[Dabs]

Cremation for me....all the way.
No burial, no plot to purchase, no casket to purchase, no headstone to purchase- it's all just a waste of damn money!
You're dead......burying people is taking up too much land space, one of these days, we're gonna run out of land, then what??
Seriously, I have my Will and Living Will all ready to go.
I am to be cremated. End of.
My Mother was cremated- I lost her to fucking cancer in November 2005- and I have her ashes here in my home, in a beautiful urn
In fact, you can't even tell it's an urn, I had it specially ordered, it's a purple/blue tint trimmed in gold.
That's what she wanted, and I wouldn't have it any other way~

 

[Dabs]

What about doing an Osama, buried at sea. No burial, no cremation, got it. Truth be told, I don't give a flyin' fuck, you can do whatever you want with my leftovers but you gotta wait 'til I'm dead.

I kind of fancy going to the 'body farm'. That sounds fun! LOL

The Body Farm is an interesting place, and I wish they still allowed 'visitors', but they don't *sigh*
You have to be a part of the forensics class or something..or, be dead ~LoL~
The Body Farm located in Knoxville, Tennessee is less than 1 hour from me.
I have seen the outside, with it's barbed wire fence surrounding, but never been able to take a look-see inside~

 

[Mad Scientist]

"There are great ways to die that don't damage the environment."

Stopped reading right there.

​

 

[sitarro]

In a few years we'll all have only the Individual Manadate Optiuon: Soylent Green.

It's a TWOFER! No wasteful use of land resources, and a new food source to End World Hunger!

Thomas Lynch has the best solution.

Golfatoriums. Combine two huge wastes (figuratively speaking) of land. Want to be part of that killer sand trap on 15? Sure. How about your ashes mixed into the water hazard on 3? Little memorial stones, flush with the putting green of course to give some really wild bounces.

Golf courses are a huge waste of land eh? What do you want to do with that land, build another fucking super Walmart or a football stadium instead of having a green zone in the city? You sound a lot like the typical class warfare pushers in the Democrat party with that line. It's not just the rich that play golf and so what if it was. Who are you to tell someone what to build on their property?
Because of golf, turf has been designed that needs less water and is less prone to damage from high traffic..... much better surface for the butt patting fags that play gay team sports like baseball and football. This same hybrid sod is now being used in parks and lawns saving tremendous amounts of water. I had a dumb ass architect from Boulder use that same line to me....... she bitched about what an eco problem golf courses were....... she was a solid 30 year behind the times. Very little insecticides are used on golf courses anymore and the ones in the community I live in are designed to handle flood waters to keep homes dry..... I guess you would rather pave over that space and put another mall in it's place.
Sorry, touchy subject, I hate having to read the same ignorant shit about a game I have played since I was five years old. I spoke to a man on a course I was photographing last year, he told me he played nine holes every day pulling his clubs with a hand cart and walking...... he said it kept him young, he was 93 years old. Show me another sport you can play, get some exercise doing it and enjoy at 93 years old.

 

[California Girl]

Cremation for me....all the way.
No burial, no plot to purchase, no casket to purchase, no headstone to purchase- it's all just a waste of damn money!
You're dead......burying people is taking up too much land space, one of these days, we're gonna run out of land, then what??
Seriously, I have my Will and Living Will all ready to go.
I am to be cremated. End of.
My Mother was cremated- I lost her to fucking cancer in November 2005- and I have her ashes here in my home, in a beautiful urn
In fact, you can't even tell it's an urn, I had it specially ordered, it's a purple/blue tint trimmed in gold.
That's what she wanted, and I wouldn't have it any other way~

This is what put me off the cremation side, although as I said, Catholics don't really do cremation but....Each cremation uses enough energy to travel 4,800 miles. Annually, in the US alone, that’s 83 trips to the moon… and back!

Even ignoring the mercury release, that's a vast amount of energy wasted.

My family are considering the 'eco' burials thing. We quite like that idea.

 

[Dabs]

Cremation for me....all the way.
No burial, no plot to purchase, no casket to purchase, no headstone to purchase- it's all just a waste of damn money!
You're dead......burying people is taking up too much land space, one of these days, we're gonna run out of land, then what??
Seriously, I have my Will and Living Will all ready to go.
I am to be cremated. End of.
My Mother was cremated- I lost her to fucking cancer in November 2005- and I have her ashes here in my home, in a beautiful urn
In fact, you can't even tell it's an urn, I had it specially ordered, it's a purple/blue tint trimmed in gold.
That's what she wanted, and I wouldn't have it any other way~

This is what put me off the cremation side, although as I said, Catholics don't really do cremation but....Each cremation uses enough energy to travel 4,800 miles. Annually, in the US alone, that’s 83 trips to the moon… and back!

Even ignoring the mercury release, that's a vast amount of energy wasted.

My family are considering the 'eco' burials thing. We quite like that idea.

I completely understand your feelings.
But about that 83 trips to the moon and back thingie.....hell, I don't even plan on going to the moon once, let alone 83 times!
So I'm sticking with cremation

 

[Big Fitz]

In a few years we'll all have only the Individual Manadate Optiuon: Soylent Green.

It's a TWOFER! No wasteful use of land resources, and a new food source to End World Hunger!

Thomas Lynch has the best solution.

Golfatoriums. Combine two huge wastes (figuratively speaking) of land. Want to be part of that killer sand trap on 15? Sure. How about your ashes mixed into the water hazard on 3? Little memorial stones, flush with the putting green of course to give some really wild bounces.

Golf courses are a huge waste of land eh? What do you want to do with that land, build another fucking super Walmart or a football stadium instead of having a green zone in the city? You sound a lot like the typical class warfare pushers in the Democrat party with that line. It's not just the rich that play golf and so what if it was. Who are you to tell someone what to build on their property?
Because of golf, turf has been designed that needs less water and is less prone to damage from high traffic..... much better surface for the butt patting fags that play gay team sports like baseball and football. This same hybrid sod is now being used in parks and lawns saving tremendous amounts of water. I had a dumb ass architect from Boulder use that same line to me....... she bitched about what an eco problem golf courses were....... she was a solid 30 year behind the times. Very little insecticides are used on golf courses anymore and the ones in the community I live in are designed to handle flood waters to keep homes dry..... I guess you would rather pave over that space and put another mall in it's place.
Sorry, touchy subject, I hate having to read the same ignorant shit about a game I have played since I was five years old. I spoke to a man on a course I was photographing last year, he told me he played nine holes every day pulling his clubs with a hand cart and walking...... he said it kept him young, he was 93 years old. Show me another sport you can play, get some exercise doing it and enjoy at 93 years old.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrllCZw8jiM"]YouTube - Stripes - Don't Call Me Francis[/ame]

Cripes on a crutch! Calm the fuck down!

I personally don't give a fuck if they make golfcourses or cemetaries. I was using the example based on the author, Thomas Lynch's statement in his book "The Undertaking: Life Lesson from the Grim Trade" and George Carlin's allegations it's a waste of space. I thought it a humorous point to add to this thread.

Now, tug real hard and get your panties out of your sphincter and siddown. You're irritating polite folk.

Oh...and lastly if you think I'm a class warrior, you've not been paying attention around here. Although I don't find golf the most interesting of sports. A long walk in the country ruined by a small white ball for too damn much money.

 

[geauxtohell]

I think it's ironic that "traditional" now equates to being pumped full of formaldehyde or phenol. Psychologically, I think we do it because people can't cope with the thought that we are all going to decay.

I like the notion of just burying people instead of embalming them.

 

[geauxtohell]

Although I haven't read the article, California Girl (logging-in takes up most of my time on USMB nowadays) I've been interested in alternative, presently controversial methods of disposing of the deceased for some time now. Being interested in all things ancient, I've always regarded the funeral pire as a humbling and overwhelmingly solemn occasion. It was an ancient tradition all over ancient Europe - famously associated with the Romans, and it served as an occasion as much as a chance to dispose of a body or number of bodies. There are several pagan movements that have campaigned to dispose of their dead in accordance to pre-Christian tradition. As long as it doesn't impact on those that disagree with burning the dead as a means of corpse disposal, I honestly can't see the problem. And at any rate, Europeans - in Europe or beyond - should be made more aware of their pre-Christian heritage, in my opinion, that is.


P.s. As odd (grissly, even) as it may seem, after encountering the funeral pire in all the literature I've read on antiquity, I'd jump at the chance to attend a funeral pire - purely to satisfy a morbid curiousity, I admit.

You really should take a look. It considers the environmental impacts of both burial and cremation - neither of which are good for the environment. And then outlines some different alternatives, like 'eco' burials (which I'm gonna find out more about because I quite like the look of those) as well as stuff like donating your body for research.

I found it fascinating.... it's not a long read and well worth it.

FWIW: Donating your body to medical science = you being a cadaver and you will still be embalmed, likely for a year before medical students start dissecting you, and then cremated at the end.

I think it's a selfless thing to do and am not disparaging it. However, if embalming and cremation are not eco friendly and that is your main concern, then you should probably consider other things.

 

[California Girl]

Cremation for me....all the way.
No burial, no plot to purchase, no casket to purchase, no headstone to purchase- it's all just a waste of damn money!
You're dead......burying people is taking up too much land space, one of these days, we're gonna run out of land, then what??
Seriously, I have my Will and Living Will all ready to go.
I am to be cremated. End of.
My Mother was cremated- I lost her to fucking cancer in November 2005- and I have her ashes here in my home, in a beautiful urn
In fact, you can't even tell it's an urn, I had it specially ordered, it's a purple/blue tint trimmed in gold.
That's what she wanted, and I wouldn't have it any other way~

This is what put me off the cremation side, although as I said, Catholics don't really do cremation but....Each cremation uses enough energy to travel 4,800 miles. Annually, in the US alone, that’s 83 trips to the moon… and back!

Even ignoring the mercury release, that's a vast amount of energy wasted.

My family are considering the 'eco' burials thing. We quite like that idea.

I completely understand your feelings.
But about that 83 trips to the moon and back thingie.....hell, I don't even plan on going to the moon once, let alone 83 times!
So I'm sticking with cremation

Yea, you're kinda missing the whole 'point' thing with this but it's your conscience so no biggie to me. Selfish behavior throughout life, selfish behavior in death... you go for it.

Personally, I'm thinking an 'eco' burial.... no coffin, no headstone, no damage to the planet will work for me and mine.

 

[California Girl]

Although I haven't read the article, California Girl (logging-in takes up most of my time on USMB nowadays) I've been interested in alternative, presently controversial methods of disposing of the deceased for some time now. Being interested in all things ancient, I've always regarded the funeral pire as a humbling and overwhelmingly solemn occasion. It was an ancient tradition all over ancient Europe - famously associated with the Romans, and it served as an occasion as much as a chance to dispose of a body or number of bodies. There are several pagan movements that have campaigned to dispose of their dead in accordance to pre-Christian tradition. As long as it doesn't impact on those that disagree with burning the dead as a means of corpse disposal, I honestly can't see the problem. And at any rate, Europeans - in Europe or beyond - should be made more aware of their pre-Christian heritage, in my opinion, that is.


P.s. As odd (grissly, even) as it may seem, after encountering the funeral pire in all the literature I've read on antiquity, I'd jump at the chance to attend a funeral pire - purely to satisfy a morbid curiousity, I admit.

You really should take a look. It considers the environmental impacts of both burial and cremation - neither of which are good for the environment. And then outlines some different alternatives, like 'eco' burials (which I'm gonna find out more about because I quite like the look of those) as well as stuff like donating your body for research.

I found it fascinating.... it's not a long read and well worth it.

FWIW: Donating your body to medical science = you being a cadaver and you will still be embalmed, likely for a year before medical students start dissecting you, and then cremated at the end.

I think it's a selfless thing to do and am not disparaging it. However, if embalming and cremation are not eco friendly and that is your main concern, then you should probably consider other things.

I didn't say I was gonna donate my body. If I did, it would be to the body farm, not medical research.

I guess reading the actual article is above the intellectual paygrade of some.

 

[geauxtohell]

You really should take a look. It considers the environmental impacts of both burial and cremation - neither of which are good for the environment. And then outlines some different alternatives, like 'eco' burials (which I'm gonna find out more about because I quite like the look of those) as well as stuff like donating your body for research.

I found it fascinating.... it's not a long read and well worth it.

FWIW: Donating your body to medical science = you being a cadaver and you will still be embalmed, likely for a year before medical students start dissecting you, and then cremated at the end.

I think it's a selfless thing to do and am not disparaging it. However, if embalming and cremation are not eco friendly and that is your main concern, then you should probably consider other things.

I didn't say I was gonna donate my body. If I did, it would be to the body farm, not medical research.

I guess reading the actual article is above the intellectual paygrade of some.

Good Lord, who pissed in your fucking Wheaties?

I did read the entire article. That was a general "you" not a specific one. What you do with your body is your business, I have no interest in being involved in that decision.

My point was that cadavers are both embalmed and cremated so it's not really "eco-friendly". It's a selfless thing to do, but as far as what the article considers to be hard on the environment, it's a twofer.