NationStates Jolt Archive

Will you consider the environment when deciding whether to be buried or cremated?

Hundreds of people die, worldwide, every second. That's a lot of organic matter, by anyone's calculation. We're talking at least a hundred or so pounds of flesh and bone... and let's not forget the heavy wooden casket, clothing, etc.

Of course, your burnt body doesn't contribute to global warming on the same level that a burning pine forest does, but when we're considering hundreds of people per second, that's not an inconsequential amount of corbon dioxide, I'm sure.

One scientist wants to see cremation stop.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070418/lf_afp/lifestylewarmingdeath_070418143046

So, should cremation be discouraged?

I don't think space wise we can consider normal burial either, unless of course I want to share my grave with someone which is doubtful since I'm a bad sleeper

though the idea of being buried in a cardboard box sounds fun why not just have a burial at sea?

After I've donated away all my useful parts to people who need them, I really don't give a fuck what happens to me. Make a nice stew out of my flesh for all I care about.


Voted yes cuz I've a feeling that yes will lose.

but I've misjudged things before...

Make a nice stew out of my flesh for all I care about.

...can I get that in writing?

probably not, i want to get scattered on a beach or something, i don't think anyone's going to be all that happy if i get minced up rather than burned to a powder before i'm scattered. anyway, ash is a good fertiliser.

Given that I've long planned to be buried somewhere with lots of trees so that I can serve as fertilizer for them, I think I would have to answer "yes."

probably not, i want to get scattered on a beach

I've got Infinite Revolution in my pants! :p

...can I get that in writing?

No sorry, I've a feeling it won't be the most tasteful stew anyway.

I actually hope to decompose for education at the body farm. :D

I've got Infinite Revolution in my pants! :p

hahaha! :D

Piss on the environment.

I'm taking steps to ensure I never come back as a shrieking, gore-soaked zombie.

Step 1: Burn my corpse on a pyre. Incinerators < Pyre of antique furniture

Step 2: Spray ashes and remnants of pyre with waterhose.

Step 3: Tell lies about how good a person I was.

Seriously though, I don't want a grave. The idea of my body bloating and becoming a fetid, stinking carcass in a sad-ass hole in the ground doesn't appeal to me at all.

ok, so what is GOOD for the environment?

Given that I've long planned to be buried somewhere with lots of trees so that I can serve as fertilizer for them, I think I would have to answer "yes."

when you say planned do you mean that you have a place picked out, arrangements made, and your next of kin know about it and have agreed to do it?

Cremation doesn't contribute to global warming because the carbon released is a small enough amount it's likely to be incorporated into currently growing organtic material, thus being removed from the atmosphere. As long as the carbon dioxide you're releasing gets used soon, it's not (in the long term) adding to the carbon dioxide in the air.

Plant enough hemp and you can drive your SUV guilt free. And have all the pot you can smoke. I hear it's Snoop Dogg's carbon credit plan.

ok, so what is GOOD for the environment?

-Not travelling.

So.. bicycles?

-Not cremation.

So, burial in a bedsheet (no wood).

-Not driving.

So, mass transit.

-Not having children.

So, adopting a pet, getting a hobby, etc.


Just take what's bad, and do the opposite. Seems simple enough.

-Not travelling.

So.. bicycles?

-Not cremation.

So, burial in a bedsheet (no wood).

-Not driving.

So, mass transit.

-Not having children.

So, adopting a pet, getting a hobby, etc.


Just take what's bad, and do the opposite. Seems simple enough.

They'll just find a way to ruin that too.

Pets are bad for the environment. I mean, all my cat does is eat sleep and meow.

They'll just find a way to ruin that too.

Pets are bad for the environment. I mean, all my cat does is eat sleep and meow.

Of course. But, compared to children, there's a huge carbon savings. Your cat doesn't drive a car, take vacations on airplanes, use any petroleum products, etc. And of course your cat only weighs around ten pounds.. it consumes much less than a human child. :)

Of course, your burnt body doesn't contribute to global warming on the same level that a burning pine forest does, but when we're considering hundreds of people per second, that's not an inconsequential amount of corbon dioxide, I'm sure.

You're leaving out a crucial fact: the majority of the carbon in your body was taken from the air (by plants that you ate, or by plants that were eaten by animals that you ate) in the first place. So you're only putting back into the atmosphere something that was taken from it very recently, in geologic terms.

The increase in CO2 in the atmosphere is because we're burning fossil fuels. The carbon in those fuels was taken from the air many millions of years ago, and has long since been replaced. Now we're dumping eons worth of stored carbon back into the air all at once. Compared to this, cremation is a drop in the bucket.

when you say planned do you mean that you have a place picked out, arrangements made, and your next of kin know about it and have agreed to do it?

No - I'm still young enough that I don't know where in the world I'm likely to be living when I get around to kicking the bucket, so it would be silly to make arrangements with any particular cemetery. However, I've explicitly told my parents that I desire to be buried beneath a tree or two, and many of my friends know my love of old, mossy, tree-filled cemeteries, so I feel fairly confident that if a car runs over me tomorrow, I'll end up in the sort of place I had in mind. :)

o gah what a bunch of malarkey.. what doesn't contribute to global warming? And I'm not being sarcastic.. I'm meaning almost everything we freakin do .. does. But all these damn boxes in the ground especially the ones made from steel, fiberglass, bronze and copper. .. isn't a good thing imo. Why not just bury the dead in the ground itself.. let the worms and whatever else gets to it take care of it. If you must have a box.. use some sort of clay.

ok, so what is GOOD for the environment?

well what i gathered from the article...

having your body ground up for tree fertilizer

(the "scientist" suggested burying people in wood boxes in the forest but that makes no sense.)

No - I'm still young enough that I don't know where in the world I'm likely to be living when I get around to kicking the bucket, so it would be silly to make arrangements with any particular cemetery. However, I've explicitly told my parents that I desire to be buried beneath a tree or two, and many of my friends know my love of old, mossy, tree-filled cemeteries, so I feel fairly confident that if a car runs over me tomorrow, I'll end up in the sort of place I had in mind. :)

well keep in mind that if you have a particular funeral/burial preference you need to make the arrangements yourself. in the throws of extreme grief and under time pressure your loved ones cant be relied on to follow your wishes.

You're leaving out a crucial fact: the majority of the carbon in your body was taken from the air (by plants that you ate, or by plants that were eaten by animals that you ate) in the first place. So you're only putting back into the atmosphere something that was taken from it very recently, in geologic terms.

The increase in CO2 in the atmosphere is because we're burning fossil fuels. The carbon in those fuels was taken from the air many millions of years ago, and has long since been replaced. Now we're dumping eons worth of stored carbon back into the air all at once. Compared to this, cremation is a drop in the bucket.

I don't get to decide the facts.. I only presented the article, which says cremation adds to global warming. ;) If you're a scientist, then by all means go ahead and test the theory.

Here's another link on preparing for death, from the BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/relationships/coping_with_grief/practicalissues_cremationburial.shtml

My cremation was to be followed by being baked into a cake, and served to my step-father.

You know...if he's still kickin' around at that point.

If the environment in that respect becomes enough of an issue however, I'm going to have to go back to the pirate ship/circus cannon plan.

I don't get to decide the facts.. I only presented the article, which says cremation adds to global warming. ;) If you're a scientist, then by all means go ahead and test the theory.

Here's another link on preparing for death, from the BBC:

http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2007/20070506180903.aspx

I like Paul Watson.

Will I consider the environment in my decision?

No.

I simply don't want to be cremated, that's all.

Saluton/Hello,

How I see it,
1. That there are more or less 6 billion people on the planet,
2. Who all need space to live, land to grow/raise food, shop-space for an economy et. al.
3. Minus land dedicated for trees so we can all still breathe (nature preservations), soil instability, inhosbitibility[sp?].
4. Now burial of the dead?
-
Personally I think there are too many people on earth; a stable 4 billion would possibly reduce the ecocidal burden to the point where the planet can soak up polution faster then we make it.

In actuality, that is not how it is; so I do not see how anything other then cremation as a means for the dead.

Using people for food, helps people stay/get stronger/healther, more healthy people, more billions of virile people.

We need the space for food, housing, roads, shops, rail ways, name it.

-As for sea burial, well, how much pollution is caused by the boat going into international waters, just so the body will not wash up on shore?
-What natural organisms can eat wood, fabric, shoe rubber, polyester that exist in the ocean? Not much/any? = pollution
-Really, as we are foreign to a marine environment, we are trash if we are dumped in the oceans. [Nothing meant to hurt those who want, or have had it done, my grandfather included.]

Hope I did not offend people, I was tring to be objective.

Gxis reskribo/until the next write,
Rafe

I like Paul Watson.

Wrong link.. that was from another thread. Blame my broken Ctrl key. :p

http://www.bbc.co.uk/relationships/coping_with_grief/practicalissues_cremationburial.shtml

There we go.

having your body ground up for tree fertilizer

(the "scientist" suggested burying people in wood boxes in the forest but that makes no sense.)

yeah. By using wood boxes, you need to cut trees. Defeats the purpose, eh?

After I've donated away all my useful parts to people who need them, I really don't give a *BLEEP* what happens to me. Make a nice stew out of my flesh for all I care about.


Voted yes cuz I've a feeling that yes will lose.

but I've misjudged things before...

Seconded, except I voted "no", because I predicted the opposite of what you did.
Other then that, I agree with you fully. I have no respect for the dead, especially myself. I would leave all my money to throw a huge party for funeral, with video games, fencing, snacks, movies, poker (money for each person), ect. If anyone mourned for me it would SO piss-me-off.

Wrong link.. that was from another thread. Blame my broken Ctrl key. :p

http://www.bbc.co.uk/relationships/coping_with_grief/practicalissues_cremationburial.shtml

There we go.

Funny thing is, the original link sort of fit the thread.

Funny thing is, the original link sort of fit the thread.

Yeah, similar topic. :p