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Oregon has legalized human composting

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Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#203
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Sounds like a civilized thing to do. Just hack off the head and store it in some permanent disposal site. Then a few centuries later our ancestors will have to move the nuclear waste because of some leakage and will dig up the skulls. Clearly a savage had lived there amongst the nuclear barrels. Its mind altered by the radiation, chopping off those poor worker heads. If it wasn't clear: /s And yes prions might be dan…

Radioactive prions. It’s like chocolate and peanut butter.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#204
post #75

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 doubt this helps put your concerns to rest, but some composting toilets use a manually cranked stirrer to mix the fecal matter with the existing compost materials.

See Nature's Head, for instance.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#205
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The mental health of grieving loved ones seems like a reasonable thing to consider when selecting how handle one's remains.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#207

Fully support this for myself, though I don't think I need my composed remains to be returned to the family. Not sure why, but that feels more grim than ashes on the mantle (though I don't feel a need for that either).

One example on the benefit of being returned to the family is that they can take you and plant a tree in you and then you grow into a tree, likely near the family, so that you can still be with them in a physical way!

If they decree to tree me, I’ll be their tree with glee.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#208
post #131

My mother passed away a few weeks ago. It was her wish to go with Recompose. She was a master gardener, and to her, the idea of returning to the ecosystem was so much better than cremation or a cemetery. Through Recompose, her 'soil' will be donated to a reforesting project. As you can imagine, I've ruminated a lot on this lately. What's the purpose of a tombstone, or a plaque, or an urn full of ashes? To memorialize…

Thanks for writing this. My mother is a master gardener also, and I'm curious how she feels about this option, so now I'll go find out. I doubt she's heard of it, but I can't imagine her views will differ from those of your mother.

I think in some ways, a monument helps people compartmentalize the loss in a literal way: there's a place they can go to visit, mourn, remember, etc. I imagine many people struggle with this in some form.

I knew someone who drove around for years with a friend's ashes in a jar ("the copilot") before eventually spreading them somewhere scenic.

Roses are indeed a fine monument.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope when it's time for me, I can simply be flushed down the drain: > Alkaline hydrolysis is also used in the agricultural industry to sterilize animal carcasses that may pose a health hazard, because the process inactivates viruses, bacteria, and prions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkaline_hydrolysis_(body_disp...

I'd like a sky burial in Tibet, but that ain't gonna happen (at least not legally) unless things change.

It can be done in India in some places if you convert toa Zoroastrian.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The mental health of grieving loved ones seems like a reasonable thing to consider when selecting how handle one's remains.

My loved ones love me and know what I want. I can't speak for anyone else.
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