10 Greener Ways to Get Rid of a Dead Body.
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Planning the funeral of a loved one can be one of the most difficult things you encounter in this lifetime. The level of emotion and grief in conjunction with the enormous details upon which to be decided can result in even greater turmoil. But, unfortunately, no matter how we’re feeling, there are certain arrangements that we must make including funeral burial services. In this case, it is essential to work with a reputable funeral home that will compassionately walk you through the process of making final arrangements.
Every year in the US alone, traditional burial wastes 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid, 90,272 tons of steel in caskets and 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete in vaults.* And that’s not even mentioning the precious land that could be put to much better use. If you’d like your final act to do less environmental damage, here are 10 greener ways to dispose of your body after your die.
- Consider a “green burial.” You’ll be encased in a biodegradable casket or shroud, and you won’t be embalmed with artificial substances that would delay your decomposition. Instead of a tombstone, your survivors could mark your resting spot with a tree or bush. Green burial sites such as the Ramsey Creek Preserve in South Carolina don’t irrigate the land or use peticides or herbicides, instead opting to preserve the site in its natural state.
- Want to speed up your decomposition? Swedish company Promessa offers to freeze-dry your dead body in liquid nitrogen, bombard it with high-frequency vibrations until it’s pulverized, and seal your powder remains in a coffin made of cornstarch. This environmentally friendly process will leave you and your coffin thoroughly decomposed within 6 to 12 months.
- Or you could make like baseball legend Ted Williams and be “cryo-preserved.” As soon as your body is clinically deceased, you’ll be frozen and stored until some point in the future when technology may exist not only to revive you but cure whatever condition caused your demise. But you’re still taking up space, probably pointlessly, so let’s move on to…
- Have you always loved the water? You could be cremated and buried at sea. Companies like Sea Burial LLC will help you organize a beautiful, peaceful service. Its website describes idyllic scenes of services at sunset, flowers strewn across the water, your loved ones partaking in a quiet service and listening to calming music. Post-funeral water skiing optional.
- Reef-er madness. If you’d like an aquatic resting space, but don’t want to end up in the bellies of hundreds of fish, you could have your ashes encased in concrete reefs. The Atlanta-based Eternal Reefs, Inc. will put your cremated remains inside artificial reefs to bolster natural coastal reef formations.
- Make space your “final frontier.” James “Scotty” Doohan of Star Trek fame, astronaut Gordon Cooper, and 200 others made outer space their final resting place on April 28, 2007 when their ashes were ejected from a rocket. The space burial was operated by Celestis, Inc. which offers memorial spaceflights for a price that, depending on your budget, might be a little too “out of this world.” (Subtract 50 “green points” for the impact of the burnt rocket fuel to get you up there.)
- Afraid your loved ones will feel a bit peckish after your memorial service? Tell them to make like the Yanomami rainforest indians who eat their dead. Have Aunt Mabel pick up a Yanomami cookbook which will show her how to smash your bones into powder, mix them with banana paste, and BAM! Your friends and family will have a delightful post-funeral treat!
- How about excarnation? Yes, it’s what it sounds like… “ex” meaning “removal of” and “carn” meaning “flesh.” Zoroastrians, a small religious sect with members in Iran and India, leave their dead on towers where vultures come and feast on the bodies.
- Donate yourself to a “body farm.” Anyone can donate their body to medical research, but why not offer yourself to one of several body farms at institutions like the University of Tennessee - Knoxville, Western Carolina University, and Texas State University? Researchers will observe your body as it decomposes either fully exposed to the elements, buried in a shallow grave or even stuffed into a car trunk.
- Go out with a bang. If you’re feeling a little gonzo, follow the last act of notorious journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson. On August 20, 2005, in a ceremony paid for by friend Johnny Depp, the good doctor’s ashes were blasted from a cannon perched on a 153-ft tower Thompson designed himself. Also blasted with his remains were red, white, blue and green fireworks that exploded to the to the tune of Thompson’s favorite song, Mr. Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan.
Funeral burial services include everything from the coming together in memoriam and prayer to the burying of the deceased. Planning a funeral service completely depends on the particular cultural and religious preferences of the deceased and their family. While some families choose to have a viewing followed by a service at the funeral home, others will hold a funeral at a house of worship. Still others choose to hold a memorial service following the burial in a place special to the deceased.
Included in the details of these funeral burial services are a number of choices including a person to lead the service, flowers, music, and even photos if you choose to honor the deceased in this way.
Of course, following – or in some cases, prior – to a service is the burial of the deceased. Burial customs vary enormously depending on culture. While some are buried in family cemetery plots, others are entombed in mausoleums. Still others choose to be cremated and their ashes spread in a particularly special place.
There are those instances where the arrangements of funeral burial services are handled by the deceased prior to their death. Having very definite ideas on what they want, they leave detailed instructions on how they wish to be honored. In this case, it is incumbent on the family to simply put into motion the decisions already made by their loved one. In other cases, it is necessary for the family to arrange funeral burial services on their own. While overwhelming, it does not need to be confusing. Ultimately, the most important thing is to reflect the unique personality of the deceased. And in so doing, you will honor their life and their memory… [read more]
Many people don’t realize that it can cost upwards of $7,000 for a funeral and final expenses. This does not begin to take into account any outstanding credit cards, personal debts, or mortgages a person might have. For most of us, the idea of saddling our heirs with this burden is not the way we want to be remembered. The answer for most people is to obtain a Burial Insurance policy to cover any outstanding bills and funeral expenses.
How will I know what to buy? - In order to truly say you have a Burial Insurance policy it must be a permanant policy, and by that I mean not a Term or Annually Renewable type of policy. Those types of policies serve a different purpose. In order to be considered Burial Insurance the policy must last until at least age 100 assuming you pay the proper premiums… [read more]
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