Environmental issues with conventional burial

[Whisp]

I watched Harry's Law on the teevee the other day and one of their cases involved information on this subject. I was so flabbergasted at some of the stats I thought I would share my flabbergast here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_burial#Environmental_issues_with_conventional_burial

Each year, 22,500 cemeteries across the United States bury approximately:

30 million board feet (70,000 m³) of hardwoods (caskets)

90,272 tons of steel (caskets)

14,000 tons of steel (vaults)

2,700 tons of copper and bronze (caskets)

1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete (vaults)

827,060 US gallons (3,130 m³) of embalming fluid, which most commonly includes formaldehyde.<2>

(Compiled from statistics by Casket and Funeral Association of America, Cremation Association of North America,
Doric Inc., The Rainforest Action Network, and Mary Woodsen, Pre-Posthumous Society)
The chemical properties of formaldehyde should be noted - once formaldehyde has been used for embalming purposes,
it is no longer (technically and chemically) formaldehyde. The formaldehyde has broken down and the chemicals released
into the ground after burial and ensuing decomposition are inert.

The problems associated with formaldehyde and its constituent components when used in a natural burial setting
are the unnecessary chemical exposure to mortuary workers <3> and the destruction of the decomposer microbes
necessary for breakdown of the body in the soil.<4>

[pipi_k]

1. I have told my family...

to have me cremated and scatter me in the woods.

Well, actually I originally told them to just throw me out into the woods whole so I can be animal food, but they're not too crazy about that for some reason...

[Whisp]

2. even cremation is not really the answer in regards to environmental issues.

There is a debate at this link:
http://www.debate.org/debates/Cremations-and-burials-should-be-made-illegal/1/


Cremating dead bodies releases huge amounts of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, particulate matter, mercury, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen chloride, heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants into the atmosphere, thus making a significant contribution to global warming.

At the same time, burying corpses is no more environmentally friendly as this method of disposal results in vast quantities of hazardous embalming fluids leeching into the soil. Furthermore, entire forests are felled to obtain the hardwoods used to produce the coffins (caskets), which are never re-used and are instead just left to rot away in the ground. (1)

So if we can't burn or bury the deceased without damaging the environment how do we get rid of the corpses?


==
how DO we?

[XemaSab]

6. You can opt out of being embalmed

The idea of embalming grosses me out worse than anything else. :o

[JoePhilly]

4. Police might think they killed you and dumped your body?

Still, that's an interesting idea ... I mean the being food thing.

My father had us spread his ashes in one of our favorite lakes. He said, "I've eaten plenty of fish from that lake, let the fish get some pay back."

Having spread ashes, I will say this ... unless the cremation process has progressed, and it may have, they paint can they give your family, filled with your cremains, isn't just ashes. Its not like cleaning out a fire place.

Their are (were) some bits of bone larger than a quarter. So in planning, check to make sure you know what they will give your family.

[Obamanaut]

3. Cremation and ashes strewn at sea. Already arranged. nt

[saras]

5. America needs charnel grounds, and we'll likely have them before the 1% comes down...

There's also a new "boil 'em in lye and dump 'em in the river" technology. 200 degrees celsius, a stainless steel tank full of pressurized potassium hydroxide, and you end up with sterile sludge you can pour down the drain. Not quite as romantic as a stone tomb, I suppose.

[Whisp]

7. I suppose a lot of the resistance to a more sane way of disposing

bodies are religious views on the subject.

on edit:
and from the death industry as well. Tradional burial costs quite a few pennies more than alternatives.
What a business to be in, 100% potential market.