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Oregon has legalized human composting

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Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#101

Post by [deleted] »

beambot wrote: post #97
prepend wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cremation will destroy prions. Composting will not. I guess the issue would be with prions from a composting brain getting into food supply. I’m not sure how real of a concern this is as deer with CWD die and decompose and I’m not aware of any transmission in this way.

I was of the impression that Prions are notoriously impervious to heat. They were said to withstand typical disinfecting protocols using an autoclave (250°F for 15-20min). Quick source: > To destroy a prion it must be denatured to the point that it can no longer cause normal proteins to misfold. Sustained heat for several hours at extremely high temperatures (900°F and above) will reliably destroy a prion. https://dw…

[deleted]

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#102

Post by munk-a »

rapnie wrote: post #34
ed_balls wrote: post #19

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…

>> fuel oil (0.8 US gallons) > eco-friendly For people who drove cars.. mostly a (once-in-a-lifetime) symbolical gesture.

It's more gallons than I'll probably use in my lifetime - I've driven maybe five miles in total when debating going for a drivers test and I'm now in my mid-thirties.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#103

Post by ryanmcbride »

prepend wrote: post #75
paulpauper wrote: post #61

Recompose, the country’s first human composting funeral home does it like this: a corpse is placed in a cylinder with organic materials, like wood chips, plants, and straw, then heated and turned repeatedly for several weeks with a hook until it’s broken down into a nutrient-rich soil that can be delivered back to the family or used for planting. It's like what the mafia used to do to dissolve bodies

This description seems unpleasant, especially the hook part. I expect they need some better description that doesn’t involve people picturing themself or their loved ones being torn up by a hook.

I don't think the bodies will mind. I know mine won't when I'm gone. Sure some particularly squeemish family members might have an issue with it but as long as it's in the deceased's will, and they entrusted the right person as executor of estate, it shouldn't be a problem.

If it's legal by the time my clock is up I'd like a "burial" where they just throw my body into a forest and let nature take its course, but that one's probably gonna take a lot longer to be legal because of the worry that like, a coyote will drag an arm or something into a populated area. Previously my plan was to have my ashes pressed into a vinyl record of my music and distributed among friends and family but now this is a pretty appealing prospect.

Anyone interested in eco-death is probably well aware of this youtube channel but if not you should check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWo2-LHwGMM

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#104

Post by Erik816 »

meristohm wrote: post #99
paulpauper wrote: post #61

Recompose, the country’s first human composting funeral home does it like this: a corpse is placed in a cylinder with organic materials, like wood chips, plants, and straw, then heated and turned repeatedly for several weeks with a hook until it’s broken down into a nutrient-rich soil that can be delivered back to the family or used for planting. It's like what the mafia used to do to dissolve bodies

For anyone disturbed by the thought of a body being turned with a hook, consider who that person is since they died. My perspective is that they’re a memory in whoever remembers. They have lasting impacts to varying degrees. Now they are a collection of elements, much of which supports many other living things. I care that the body is processed in a way towards most ecological reciprocity, whatever that may be for th…

Treating our dead with respect is probably one of the oldest signs of human culture. People care a lot about the bodies of their deceased loved ones. See Antigone by Sophocles. You're welcome to your views, but most people have strong, deeply felt emotions and opinions on how dead bodies should be properly handled.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#105

Post by [deleted] »

prepend wrote: post #75
paulpauper wrote: post #61

Recompose, the country’s first human composting funeral home does it like this: a corpse is placed in a cylinder with organic materials, like wood chips, plants, and straw, then heated and turned repeatedly for several weeks with a hook until it’s broken down into a nutrient-rich soil that can be delivered back to the family or used for planting. It's like what the mafia used to do to dissolve bodies

This description seems unpleasant, especially the hook part. I expect they need some better description that doesn’t involve people picturing themself or their loved ones being torn up by a hook.

[deleted]

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#106

Post by mc32 »

paulpauper wrote: post #61

Recompose, the country’s first human composting funeral home does it like this: a corpse is placed in a cylinder with organic materials, like wood chips, plants, and straw, then heated and turned repeatedly for several weeks with a hook until it’s broken down into a nutrient-rich soil that can be delivered back to the family or used for planting. It's like what the mafia used to do to dissolve bodies

I mean, why do all this theater when there is a much better long lived and respected tradition: Burial-at-Sea. Roughly 60% of the US pop lives within a 100 miles of a seacoast.

Wrap them in something organic for presentation, a weight stone, then, go out to sea (with family along option -others may be ok with remote video) and let them slip into the ocean like sailors buried at sea.

No creepiness, no vicarious cannibalism via eating veggies nourished by uncle Vinnie or aunt Mathilda or anything.

Traditional burial-at-sea.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#108

Post by conductr »

tantalor wrote: post #96
conductr wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn’t even consider that as a possible interpretation. I thought of the hook as a crank to turn the cylinder. But now you have me questioning which is correct?

This earlier article is less ambiguous, > Over the next 30 days, naturally-occurring microbes—and a few turnings with a tool similar to a dough hook—break the body down. https://www.vice.com/en/article/93wmd5/the-first-us-funeral-...

That's pretty interesting. Does leave me with a different opinion on the service. Not sure if good/bad, just different.

Edit: after a few minutes of thought, I definitely like this less. Imagining my body like a pair of shoes banging around in the dryer or torn to shreds is not a great thought. In a way it's irrational. I don't think of cremation as my body in an inferno even thought that's what it is. I've always liked the idea of just having myself tossed in a hole and a tree planted over me. I've done this with my late dogs and it's always a joy to revisit the tree even after (especially after) years past. Gives me a feeling they are there still. It's odd but such is life, and death.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#109

Post by kelnos »

Erik816 wrote: post #104
meristohm wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For anyone disturbed by the thought of a body being turned with a hook, consider who that person is since they died. My perspective is that they’re a memory in whoever remembers. They have lasting impacts to varying degrees. Now they are a collection of elements, much of which supports many other living things. I care that the body is processed in a way towards most ecological reciprocity, whatever that may be for th…

Treating our dead with respect is probably one of the oldest signs of human culture. People care a lot about the bodies of their deceased loved ones. See Antigone by Sophocles. You're welcome to your views, but most people have strong, deeply felt emotions and opinions on how dead bodies should be properly handled.

Things like this, though, show that those attitudes are changing. Not rapidly, and certainly not in a majority of people, but they are indeed changing.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#110

Post by [deleted] »

Erik816 wrote: post #104
meristohm wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For anyone disturbed by the thought of a body being turned with a hook, consider who that person is since they died. My perspective is that they’re a memory in whoever remembers. They have lasting impacts to varying degrees. Now they are a collection of elements, much of which supports many other living things. I care that the body is processed in a way towards most ecological reciprocity, whatever that may be for th…

Treating our dead with respect is probably one of the oldest signs of human culture. People care a lot about the bodies of their deceased loved ones. See Antigone by Sophocles. You're welcome to your views, but most people have strong, deeply felt emotions and opinions on how dead bodies should be properly handled.

[deleted]
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