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Oregon has legalized human composting

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Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#41

Why can't people just opt to be buried without embalming or a casket? Sounds like a nice way to go buried whole and maybe with some sort of tree seed that grows over where you are laid. Not going to lie on a personal level, the composting process sounds terrible.

Enbalming isn't universal; AFAIK it's forbidden, or at least discouraged, in Judaism and Islam, say. Coffins also aren't universal (but can be made biodegradable, anyway)

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#42
post #26

I wonder what is the risk of prions diseases. > A 68 kg (150 lbs) body which contains 65% water will require 100 MJ of thermal energy before any combustion will take place. 100 MJ is approximately equivalent to 3 m3 (105 ft3) of natural gas, or 3 liters of fuel oil (0.8 US gallons). Additional energy is necessary to make up for the heat capacity ("preheating") of the furnace, fuel burned for emissions control, and he…

Since prions are found abundantly in the head, just bury or lock away the skulls and treat them like nuclear waste. Compost or cremate the rest of the body.

You could also put them in a jar and start a museum with them.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#43

I always remember Cardinal Newman instructing for a load of compost to be dumped on top of his coffin to prevent there being anything to dig up and sanctify. They still tried a hundred years later but all they found was a brass plaque and earth...

Seems like an impressive timescale to remove all the bone too.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#44

I always remember Cardinal Newman instructing for a load of compost to be dumped on top of his coffin to prevent there being anything to dig up and sanctify. They still tried a hundred years later but all they found was a brass plaque and earth...

Huh, he was also sainted by the church. Patron saint of composting?

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#45
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I'd opt for a Mongolian style sky burial. They just take you out onto a mountainside, cut you up a little bit, and the carrion birds and other animals come to eat you up. Seems like the quickest way to return your elements to the earth.

This reminds me of the Towers of Silence found in historical Persia, and modern-day India: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Silence Zoroastrian rituals related to death are fascinating (not only because of their impact on abrahamic religions, but that's a different story)

Very cool. I didn't know about this kind of death ritual outside of the Mongolian steppes. Thanks for the link.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#46

I always remember Cardinal Newman instructing for a load of compost to be dumped on top of his coffin to prevent there being anything to dig up and sanctify. They still tried a hundred years later but all they found was a brass plaque and earth...

Seems like an impressive timescale to remove all the bone too.

An active compost pile can consume an animal carcass of any size, bones and all, in the 60-90 days. This is the way nature recycles resources and she has gotten very good at it over the eons.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#48

I wonder what is the risk of prions diseases. > A 68 kg (150 lbs) body which contains 65% water will require 100 MJ of thermal energy before any combustion will take place. 100 MJ is approximately equivalent to 3 m3 (105 ft3) of natural gas, or 3 liters of fuel oil (0.8 US gallons). Additional energy is necessary to make up for the heat capacity ("preheating") of the furnace, fuel burned for emissions control, and he…

Prions are scary, but the fact that prions have presumably existed for just as long as life has existed on Earth, there must be something that keeps prions from replicating out of control and causing mass death and extinctions.
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