51–60 of 83 posts
This Freakonomics episode goes into more detail: http://freakonomics.com/2013/10/14/the-troubled-cremation-of...
I comparison shopped for my grandmother's cremation a decade ago. I think she would have appreciated the effort. She had already purchased a cemetery slot, so the only question was how to transport her ashes there. The low bidder sent a hearse about 100 miles to get her body, and was easy to deal with on the phone (and took credit cards).
Why is a hearse needed to transport (presumably an urn of) ashes?
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Why not just liquify bodies with chemicals and then flush them down the drain?
Down the drain? As in, the city's waste treatment plant? I for one don't want to drink liquefied brains.
Every molecule of H20 you've every drunk has been part of a disgusting biological process at some point. But homeopathy isn't real; the water doesn't remember.
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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…
Basic principles of no embalming, no vault, simple coffin or shroud, are more or less identical to Jewish and Muslim practices, practiced in every state.
Moreover there are no ecological concerns versus conventional burial, except that conventional burial typically involves sticking a lot of concrete, steel, and treated wood in the ground. Whereas natural burial uses fewer resources and conserves land in a natural state.
Embalming does nothing regarding drugs or radionucleotides in the body. It simply adds embalming fluid consisting mostly of formaldehyde that decomposes after burial. Removing implants may or may not be done for both conventional and "natural" burial, no difference; it's always done for cremation since incineration is involved.
The "mushroom suit" innovation is not a common green burial practice at this time.
How on earth can incinerating a human body require $1000 worth of consumables, even factoring in the pay for the operator and other employees?
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Turns out cremation doesn't result in ONLY ash You actually end up with large, intact bones after cremation. They actually take the bones and grind them up into finer particles. I've never seen cremation, ashes, but I've been told they look similar to gravel.
The process as I understand it: (1) Prep the body by cutting out anything that will harm the cremator, specifically pacemakers with potentially explosive batteries. (2) Fire. (3) Sift through the ashes/bones for any metal (hips/metal screws) (4) Macerate remaining bits into homogeneous ash.
They're mildly interesting. They're great if you have someone who fiddles around with stuff on your desk and doesn't stop when asked.
"What's this?"
"My dead dad's knee. That dust? That's my dead dad."
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…
Someone else has a spare field, and they get the necessary permissions.
It's just a normal graveyard, but not attached to any religious building, with no or minimal headstones, and lots of trees and native local flowers.
Somewhat topical story: A co-worker was part of a jogging group (this was in Virginia, USA), and one of their members died after a fight with cancer. He wanted his ashes to be spread in the Botanical Gardens, where they ran. But said Botanical Gardens had rules denying this (don't recall if it was hygiene, environmental, or just not wanting to open the door to piles of ash). So the group somberly gathered, took his a…
Turns out cremation doesn't result in ONLY ash You actually end up with large, intact bones after cremation. They actually take the bones and grind them up into finer particles. I've never seen cremation, ashes, but I've been told they look similar to gravel.
Why would anyone need to "take a look". We don't have room for all the bodies and internment has (always?) been more expensive than cremation.