11–20 of 83 posts
I understand that the choice/decision to cremate the self is personal. But I think it stops where the personal starts affecting us all. Is cremation that negligible of an issue for the environment?
I mean, there's a million more wasteful things that you can complain about, other than how we dispose of our bodies after death.
I understand that the choice/decision to cremate the self is personal. But I think it stops where the personal starts affecting us all. Is cremation that negligible of an issue for the environment?
If you don't want to be cremated or buried, there are these "natural death"[0] places that will perform woodland burials for you. It's pretty cool. You are buried out on a meadow somewhere in a biodegradable coffin without being embalmed and with a tree over you. Not advocating banning cremations or anything. Just found that cool. 0: http://www.naturaldeath.org.uk/
There are some serious questions being asked about natural burials and pharmaceuticals. Dead bodies these days are cocktails of drugs, synthetic body parts (knee/hip replacements) even radionuclides. Whether the mushroom suit can deal with all of that properly remains an open question.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Compared to the energy you will use throughout your life, the energy used for a cremation is trivial (about a 5,000 mile drive). The alternative (burial) impacts the environment considerably as well. There is plenty of land devoted to cemeteries. Trees or metal are used (once) for the casket. In many places, you also need a concrete vault, which would add to the impact.
But the resulting ash isn't biodegradable. Cemetery land can be reused after full decomposition and after enough time has passed.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Compared to the energy you will use throughout your life, the energy used for a cremation is trivial (about a 5,000 mile drive). The alternative (burial) impacts the environment considerably as well. There is plenty of land devoted to cemeteries. Trees or metal are used (once) for the casket. In many places, you also need a concrete vault, which would add to the impact.
But the resulting ash isn't biodegradable. Cemetery land can be reused after full decomposition and after enough time has passed.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you don't want to be cremated or buried, there are these "natural death"[0] places that will perform woodland burials for you. It's pretty cool. You are buried out on a meadow somewhere in a biodegradable coffin without being embalmed and with a tree over you. Not advocating banning cremations or anything. Just found that cool. 0: http://www.naturaldeath.org.uk/
This isn't legal in many jurisdictions. When done correctly I'm sure it is perfectly safe and dignified. But we have rules about the disposal of bodies for a reason. Not everyone appreciates people turning meadows into their personal burial grounds. There are some serious questions being asked about natural burials and pharmaceuticals. Dead bodies these days are cocktails of drugs, synthetic body parts (knee/hip repl…
I temped in a sales office for a cremation company a number of years ago and it was a very interesting experience. You can pre-buy cremations and issued a legally binding document which states that you are to be cremated. This can save your family the trouble and heartache of shopping around for a good deal as well as debate/drama over what to do with your remains. From what I understand, it is also easy to be upsold…
I understand that the choice/decision to cremate the self is personal. But I think it stops where the personal starts affecting us all. Is cremation that negligible of an issue for the environment?
Compared to the energy you will use throughout your life, the energy used for a cremation is trivial (about a 5,000 mile drive). The alternative (burial) impacts the environment considerably as well. There is plenty of land devoted to cemeteries. Trees or metal are used (once) for the casket. In many places, you also need a concrete vault, which would add to the impact.
Most US car owners drive at most 10,000 miles a year. A half year's driving? That's only a trivial energy use by 1st and 0th world standards.
Human composting seems like a good idea to me: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/science/a-project-to-turn-...
How about a company where you can subscribe to get such prices? The company runs something like a call center where software gives employees assignments to periodically inquire about prices, which are then posted to the database? This would cover prices for more than just cremations, of course.
Even more troubling, in the Internet age, funeral parlors tend to make pricing hard to find. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission allows funeral homes to keep their rates hidden until someone actually writes or calls a funeral home representative -- leaning on regulations last updated in 1994 -- rather than pushing funeral homes to let the customer compare online. How about a company where you can subscribe to get s…
"This post is adapted from the blog of Parting, a Priceonomics customer."
From http://www.parting.com:
"Find trusted funeral homes near you to compare quality and prices"