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| DanesWood |
Something we care not to think about I suppose, yet will eventually affect us all.
So far there have been only 2 choices for disposal of our mortal remains, burial or cremation. Of course a few individuals have been preserved in other ways for scientific research or even as works of art.
Now in the 21st century there are 2 new ways vying for our business and offering what are presented as more environmentally friendly ways of sending us off into the great unknown.
The first method involves basically freezing the body to super low temperatures and vibrating the corpse until it shatters into thousands of pieces. Anything that can be removed such as replacement joints and dental amalgam are removed and the rest ends up in a small degradable coffin which is buried in a shallow grave which the inventor likens to composting.
The second and perhaps far more unpalatable method involves places the body into a solution of water and potassium hydroxide which is pressurised to 10 atmospheres and heated to 180C for between two-and-a-half and three hours. The flesh is dissolved and the liquid passes into the waste water system where it is recycled along with the normal waste water. The bones are crushed in the same way as when the body is cremated, presumably for loved ones to dispose of as they would normal cremation ashes.
Tests apparently prove that there is no trace of DNA in the liquid pumped out into the water treatment system and of course we all know that any flesh be it human or animal that decomposes under ground will all eventually end up filtering into the water table. So why is it that I find this particular alternative so distasteful?
I have to say after reading recently of crematoriums selling the heat generated when burning bodies to heat swimming pools, I could almost agree it's a sensible way of energy saving, but even that lacks a certain sense of decorum.
Am I alone in thinking that the dignity we should be afforded after death is being eroded? That in our rush to save money, save the planet and resources we're selling ourselves and our loved ones short?
Whatever our own thoughts are as individuals it would seem our choices will be limited in the future, as I'm positive that eventually legislation will override personal choice.
I don't know how I'll feel in years to come knowing I'm drinking water that has been used to dissolve a few bodies.
Perhaps it will mean we'll all become cannibals.
| 30 Aug 11, 9:48 PM celeste13 UK(SN), 6 yrs |
I personally am all for anything which enables my decomposing corpse to be of some use. After all, I won't need it. But I am very matter of fact when it comes to death - I don't see any loss of dignity in alternative forms of cremation/burial, in fact I reckon far too much useful money is wasted on expensive coffins, flowers and burial plots, which could be much better used elsewhere to charities. Only my 2 penneths worth. I must sort my will out so I can be disposed of as I wish which for me is as environmentally and economically possible. So thank you for your post, it has prompted me to do that! c xx Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine. | |
| 30 Aug 11, 10:00 PM MzClio UK(CF), 3 yrs       |
It has echos of Soylent Green, a sci fi film , in which the population is reduced to basically eating other humans in the form of disks of food (IF I remember correctly)..
Myself as I don't have any family to speak of .. I'm donating my body to medical science .. Defiled is my name full sore Through cruel spite and false report That I may say for evermore Fairwell to joy, adieu comfort For wrongfully ye judge of me Unto my fame a mortal wound Say what ye list, it may not be Ye seek for that shall not be found.. Anne Boleyn ......circa 1503-1536 | |
| 30 Aug 11, 10:20 PM GazUK1963 UK(B), 6 yrs |
You produce a lot of waste products during your life. A large part of household dust is dead skin. We must pass a huge amount of faeces and urine during our lives and expel loads of air. I see the corps as just the last bit of waste product that our lives produce. That is all it is. Once dead, the body is useless and I really don't think it matters how it is disposed of. The only thing to consider is minimising the effects of its disposal on the living. I know that this is cold and logical and many people can't accept it because of the feelings that they have for the person who is gone. I would not want to hurt their feelings, but I really do see a corps as body waste, not a person. Once dead, a person only lives in our hearts and our memories, not in the leftovers we call their dead body. Gary x. Everyone who lives dies, but not everyone who dies has truly lived. | |
| 31 Aug 11, 12:52 AM northern_light UK, 7 yrs |
Our graveyards are overflowing and I personally would prefer my remains to be disposed of in some other way than have them disturbed once buried to make room for others. Yes I prefer the idea of cremation, but to have my coffin put on a conveyorbelt whilst the curtains close around it as my relatives weep or perhaps celebrate my passing does not appeal at all. I dont want to be made into a firework and shot into the sky or be frozen or to be made into a diamond. Unfortunately my idea of being cremated on a funeral pyre on the top of a hill somewhere is illegal under the Cremation Act. Thousands of slaughtered animals bodies which unfortunately had to be disposed of due to the foot and mouth outbreak were disposed of this way, their ashes left to mingle with the earth. I do not wish to be put in a jar on a shelf, nor sprinkled on a grave or in a favourite spot but for the breeze to disperse my ashes as the flames consume my remains. "Absinthe is the aphrodisiac of the self. The green fairy who lives in the Absinthe wants your soul." ~Dracula by Bram Stoker | |
| 31 Aug 11, 12:16 PM Richtea UK(BN), 2 yrs  |
I've decided I'm not going to die. I'm gonna live for ever. I'm gonna learn how to fly.... Of course, apart from the obvious necessity of disposing of the cadaver, funerals aren't really for the dead at all, they are for whoever's left behind. I understand what you're saying about the new ideas you mentioned, possibly lacking dignity and decorum, but, for me, the act of cremation has no dignity or decorum either; it's a very cold,(not literally, obviously), mechanical process. The thing is, we don't see the cremation, we just see Uncle Albert's coffin silently glide through the curtains, and that has a sense of solemnity, dignity and decorum, not the cremation itself. I imagine something similar would be the case with the other ways of dealing with dead bodies. "Me and Kevin, we're just not the same" Edited 31 Aug 11, 5:31 PM by Richtea | |
| 31 Aug 11, 3:42 PM Subfemmepet UK(NE), 6 yrs |
Perhaps it will mean we'll all become cannibals. The road, may be bumpy , but it still leads us to our destination. Love conquers all, and makes the heart come alive | |
| 31 Aug 11, 5:02 PM MistressStar UK(TW), 5 yrs |
I'm not too bothered how my body is disposed of once I die. I used to think I would have my twinkle cremated and make a diamond out of his ashes, but they are the ugliest diamonds I have ever seen, so that's not going to happen now. I'm sure there used to be a shop in Bristol that would use your ashes in a cushion..! ~ It is always by way of pain one arrives at pleasure ~ |
waste not want not !