Saturday, May 19, 2007

How to be green .... Forever ....

I was listening to the Weekly Scientific America podcast: Science Talk when a story came up about "out of the box" (pun intended) thinking on burial rites and how to make them "greener." Some people believe the cremation is a very un-green way to dispose of your remains. There is the issue of the carbon given off by the burning process plus all of the fuel needed to cook you at 800 degrees C for 90 minutes. As far as burial is concerned ... that's just a waste of space ... plus pretty morbid ... I mean who likes cemeteries anyway ... rows and rows of gray tombstone ... just seems so sterile and unnatural.

How about this as an alternative:

This process saves space by using a vertical approach and your remains through natural decomposition will feed the tree, in fact your atoms will become part of the tree. When people want to visit, rather then looking at gray headstones they can sit under the shade of a beautiful tree and remember you. Imagine if it were a fruit tree ... gives new meaning to the phase: "eat me"

Here is a link to a site that mentions how to be green in the afterlife
and here is an oposing view point that says cremation is the greenest approach

Problem I'm having is this goes against my original plan to have myself turned into gemstones and given to my grand kids.

#posted by Rob Roschewsk @ 2:38 PM

Comments:

I've specified that my entire (deceased) body is to be used for organ donation, medical science, research and education, with only the bits that no one wants disposed of as medical waste (or fed to zombies, as needed).

Why waste a perfectly good dead body? Recycle!

# posted by Blogger Mace @ 11:45 PM 

Comments:

Recycling ... now that's the way to go ... err ... no pun intended. Yes, organ donation is on my list as well .... but I never did consider what to do with the leftovers. Hmmm medical research ... could be an option.

# posted by Blogger Rob Roschewsk @ 8:21 AM 

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