Oregon has legalized human composting • Hacker News Board

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#211

Post by learc83 » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 4:02 AM UTC

maxerickson wrote: post #199

NaturalPhallacy wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bison are much better at making meat than we ever were, before we all but wiped them out. Google piles of bison skulls for a peek.

I think the comparison is hard more than it is obvious. There's an awful lot of humans, pets and livestock.

A quick google search shows around 5 billion goats, cows, pigs, and sheep, 1.5 billion cats and dogs, and 8 billion humans.

Compared to an estimated 130 billion wild mammals. That’s without the vast herds of herbivores that used to roam the plains of the world.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#212

Post by tastyfreeze » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 4:05 AM UTC

betwixthewires wrote: post #191

tastyfreeze wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>designed to be anaerobic aerobic - with oxygen Anaerobic decomposes as well but it is not compost. Anaerobic decomposition is putrefaction and creates the "smell of death"

No, actually, they meant anaerobic. There's a trend nowadays where organic matter is steeped in water in a sealed container and allowed to decay without oxygen and the water is used to water plants, hence "compost tea." Maybe "compost" isn't strictly a good word for it but that's what they call it.

I have listened to many hours of Dr. Ingham. I am certain that she said aerobic. Her whole business is aerated compost and aerated compost tea.

Yes, there is a trend for anerobic teas. But it didnt come from Elaine Ingham.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#213

Post by pazimzadeh » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 4:13 AM UTC

lph wrote: 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…

Some religions take a similar tact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Silence

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#214

Post by Auracle » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 4:13 AM UTC

jacobolus wrote: post #119

mc32 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have inland seas. The Great Lakes are vast and they can be barged out to sea (we’d need agreements with Canada; but feasible) It may not be cost effective for some... but a large percentage (~60%) of the US pop live within a 100 miles from seashores...

My understanding is that the EPA does not allow you to dump human corpses in lakes. You also need to go >3 miles out to sea. https://www.epa.gov/ocean-dumping/burial-sea

I wonder how big of a trebuchet you’d need to launch a body 3 miles.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#215

Post by pazimzadeh » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 4:14 AM UTC

arkush wrote: post #151

"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." Every time I read about using human corpses to produce soil, I recall…

I just posted this on another comment, but it turns out the Zoroastrians had a solution for this, which still allows the body to be recycled naturally. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Silence

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#216

Post by esyir » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 4:52 AM UTC

ssully wrote: post #114

Y_Y wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a solved problem! My startup is building modern, cutting-edge catacombs where we're redefining what it means to have a huge, underground maze full of decomposing human heads.

I am in a similar market, but we are turning cadavers into headless server platforms.

Are your digital cants to the omnissiah iso-9001 compliant too?

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#217

Post by kazinator » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 7:43 AM UTC

> Before human composting gained traction, green burials—in which the body is prepared without chemicals and planted underground in an organic, biodegradable container, often underneath a tree sapling—emerged in 1998 as an alternative to traditional high-impact burial methods, according to the Green Burial Council.

Are we talking 1998 A.D. or B.C.?

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#218

Post by bolangi » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 8:59 AM UTC

tastyfreeze wrote: post #212

betwixthewires wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, actually, they meant anaerobic. There's a trend nowadays where organic matter is steeped in water in a sealed container and allowed to decay without oxygen and the water is used to water plants, hence "compost tea." Maybe "compost" isn't strictly a good word for it but that's what they call it.

I have listened to many hours of Dr. Ingham. I am certain that she said aerobic. Her whole business is aerated compost and aerated compost tea. Yes, there is a trend for anerobic teas. But it didnt come from Elaine Ingham.

Her workshop covered both aerobic and anaerobic compost. Anaerobic composting has uses, and one is getting rid of animal carcasses.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#219

Post by MomoXenosaga » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 9:19 AM UTC

wonderwonder wrote: post #11

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.

In my country they can. They have a special "cemetery" that is designated as a nature preserve. No tombstones or signs and no coffins.

https://begravenindenatuur.com/overzicht-natuurbegraafplaats...

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#220

Post by amanaplanacanal » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 11:43 AM UTC

grishka wrote: post #181

These comments are so depressing. I really hope that we'll figure out a way to reverse aging in the coming decades so death becomes optional.

I’m totally with you on that one! I’m getting old though, I don’t expect those technologies to arrive soon enough for me to take advantage of them. Some sort of green burial is my likely future.