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Peter1469
03-22-2014, 06:31 AM
Are green funerals going to catch on? (http://washingtonexaminer.com/burials-go-green-bodies-interred-in-just-a-cloth-bag-or-wicker-basket/article/2546073)


Cemeteries are the latest business go to green.


The new trend is for families of the dead to skip the traditional embalming, elaborate casket and concrete box and simply wrap the dead in a cloth shroud and put the body into the earth.


A Washington, D.C., cemetery is being recognized for helping lead the green drive. And not just any cemetery.

Green Arrow
03-22-2014, 06:48 AM
That's an ancient tradition. Not really sure why we ever got rid of it.

For myself, I want a Viking funeral. Complete with a longboat onto the ocean, with a professional marksman lighting the boat aflame from the shore with a fiery arrow. I'm going to go out like a boss.

Peter1469
03-22-2014, 06:53 AM
That's an ancient tradition. Not really sure why we ever got rid of it.

For myself, I want a Viking funeral. Complete with a longboat onto the ocean, with a professional marksman lighting the boat aflame from the shore with a fiery arrow. I'm going to go out like a boss.

The Green crowd may not appreciate the longboat part.... :smiley:

Chloe
03-22-2014, 09:38 AM
My parents have known for a while now that if I were to die at a young age before I have a husband or a will that I dont want to be embalmed, I dont want a casket, I dont want a mausoleum, I dont want any elaborate or expensive things along with it. Just bury me in the ground as soon as you are able to with a small picture of my family and a simple headstone with my name and a star of david on it is all i'd need or want. It's not even for "green" purposes really it's just I dont want it all and I dont want my parents or future husband to have to worry about cost or anything like that either.

Peter1469
03-22-2014, 10:18 AM
My parents have known for a while now that if I were to die at a young age before I have a husband or a will that I dont want to be embalmed, I dont want a casket, I dont want a mausoleum, I dont want any elaborate or expensive things along with it. Just bury me in the ground as soon as you are able to with a small picture of my family and a simple headstone with my name and a star of david on it is all i'd need or want. It's not even for "green" purposes really it's just I dont want it all and I dont want my parents or future husband to have to worry about cost or anything like that either.

What, no mausoleum?

If I wanted to be buried back in New Orleans I could get one of those cool above ground crypts. But unless they change the rules there is a space at Arlington.

Polecat
03-22-2014, 10:22 AM
I am a medical cadaver.

Peter1469
03-22-2014, 10:27 AM
I am a medical cadaver.

To hell with that! :shocked:

nathanbforrest45
03-24-2014, 06:11 AM
I am a medical cadaver.

And it shows!

nathanbforrest45
03-24-2014, 06:14 AM
What, no mausoleum?

If I wanted to be buried back in New Orleans I could get one of those cool above ground crypts. But unless they change the rules there is a space at Arlington.


I have several relatives in crypts in NO. Well, they were there but as you know those crypts are only good for a short period of time. You can buy one for 'perpetuity" but they are quite expensive. Most are "rented" for up to five years, who the hell is going to remember you after five years anyway?

Peter1469
03-24-2014, 06:22 AM
I have several relatives in crypts in NO. Well, they were there but as you know those crypts are only good for a short period of time. You can buy one for 'perpetuity" but they are quite expensive. Most are "rented" for up to five years, who the hell is going to remember you after five years anyway?

Don't they push the old bones into pits at the back of the crypt?

nathanbforrest45
03-24-2014, 06:32 AM
Don't they push the old bones into pits at the back of the crypt?


Yes, if you look at the crypt its much larger than a regular grave. That is because they are open in the back and you are exactly right. When they open a crypt for a new body they simply push the older bones into the opening in the back. Some of those are several hundred years old and I have always wondered if those old bones simply turn to dust or do they ever clean them out.

ChoppedLiver
03-31-2014, 01:15 AM
Are green funerals going to catch on? (http://washingtonexaminer.com/burials-go-green-bodies-interred-in-just-a-cloth-bag-or-wicker-basket/article/2546073)

I can see not having the expensive casket. But do you know what a cemetery of any size does to the water supply? That's why they have those concrete boxes.

:cool:

Don
05-16-2014, 09:14 PM
To me the perfect green funeral would be if they put the crematorium next to the funeral parlor and cremate my body using the power generated to run the lights and microphones during the services for me.:wink:

Dr. Who
05-16-2014, 10:59 PM
The whole idea of burial is creepy. I am a proponent of cremation. Why do we need human skeletons laying about in cemeteries? All it does is fill the pockets of the owners of same, until people stop paying and then the bodies are dumped into a common pit. Cremation is far more dignified. The family scatters the ashes in accordance to the wishes of the departed or perhaps plants a tree upon the ashes.

Peter1469
05-17-2014, 04:35 AM
I am on the fence about it.

1751_Texan
05-17-2014, 04:43 AM
Cremation with ashes spread in the Burial parks' rose garden.

Funerals are for the living...not the dead.

Peter1469
05-17-2014, 04:48 AM
Cremation with ashes spread in the Burial parks' rose garden.

Funerals are for the living...not the dead.

That is true. I certainly don't plan on showing up for my funeral. It is supposed to help in the healing process for friends and loved ones.

1751_Texan
05-17-2014, 05:00 AM
That is true. I certainly don't plan on showing up for my funeral. It is supposed to help in the healing process for friends and loved ones.

With all due respect on the subject. Friends and family will grieve and heal whether I shell out 10K for them do so or not. Family and friends can grieve and rememeber me in their own way in their own home or bar of their choice.

My mother had a saying. "Bring me flowers while I'm alive not when I'm dead".

Peter1469
05-17-2014, 05:18 AM
With all due respect on the subject. Friends and family will grieve and heal whether I shell out 10K for them do so or not. Family and friends can grieve and rememeber me in their own way in their own home or bar of their choice.

My mother had a saying. "Bring me flowers while I'm alive not when I'm dead".

The funeral home industry is a racket. When my dad died I was there and brought his wife to do what had to be done. The director tried to con her into getting an expensive casket and she asked me what I thought. So I walked around the selection of caskets, looking at prices. I found a wooden one that looked OK and told her, my dad was a wood worker, I think he would like something like this.

The director's face showed disappointment, slightly. My ex-wife was impressed.

Anyway, my dad had pre-paid for the plot of land, so that I think was the only real expense at the time. But it was a plot with his 2nd wife already in it. That caused a lot of problems with the current wife, #3. During the planting part of the funeral the two daughters of #2 showed up on the road about 100 meters from the grave site. So #3 gets up, jumps up and down and screams at them to get away. Then #3's mother gets up to calm #3 down and she trips and seriously hurts herself. During this, I started chanting "Jerry, Jerry, Jerry." The ex-wife told me to cut it out and go talk to the two daughters of #2. It is raining out so I was sort of ticked about it. I walked over to them and asked them to move out of sight and to come back after we leave to pay their respects.

Dr. Who
05-17-2014, 02:08 PM
The funeral home industry is a racket. When my dad died I was there and brought his wife to do what had to be done. The director tried to con her into getting an expensive casket and she asked me what I thought. So I walked around the selection of caskets, looking at prices. I found a wooden one that looked OK and told her, my dad was a wood worker, I think he would like something like this.

The director's face showed disappointment, slightly. My ex-wife was impressed.

Anyway, my dad had pre-paid for the plot of land, so that I think was the only real expense at the time. But it was a plot with his 2nd wife already in it. That caused a lot of problems with the current wife, #3. During the planting part of the funeral the two daughters of #2 showed up on the road about 100 meters from the grave site. So #3 gets up, jumps up and down and screams at them to get away. Then #3's mother gets up to calm #3 down and she trips and seriously hurts herself. During this, I started chanting "Jerry, Jerry, Jerry." The ex-wife told me to cut it out and go talk to the two daughters of #2. It is raining out so I was sort of ticked about it. I walked over to them and asked them to move out of sight and to come back after we leave to pay their respects.
My dad was cremated. It was his wish that his ashes be scattered in the Atlantic, so that is what we did last summer. We went to the east coast and chartered a fishing boat and scattered his ashes beyond the three mile limit. It was very emotional.

Don
05-17-2014, 09:53 PM
I've thought about donating my body to that outfit in Tennessee that uses bodies to learn how to investigate homicides. They put the bodies in trunks of cars, bury them, cover them with a few inches of dirt and cover them with leaves, throw them in the water...All the things they can think of that murderers do with the bodies of their victims. They check them all the time for rates of decay in different temps and climates. They check them for insects and maggots that help determine the time of death. It sounds gruesome but I doubt (hopefully):shocked: that I will know about it. It would be something that helps so your body wouldn't just be a waste which is pretty much what "going green" is all about. My understanding is that they will collect your carcass at no cost to your heirs and cremate what's left when they are done. I wouldn't even care about that. If you aren't around anymore what difference does it make what happens to your body or your ashes. When I think about my parents and other family members I think about them in our home, not the cemetary.

Peter1469
05-17-2014, 10:19 PM
I've thought about donating my body to that outfit in Tennessee that uses bodies to learn how to investigate homicides. They put the bodies in trunks of cars, bury them, cover them with a few inches of dirt and cover them with leaves, throw them in the water...All the things they can think of that murderers do with the bodies of their victims. They check them all the time for rates of decay in different temps and climates. They check them for insects and maggots that help determine the time of death. It sounds gruesome but I doubt (hopefully):shocked: that I will know about it. It would be something that helps so your body wouldn't just be a waste which is pretty much what "going green" is all about. My understanding is that they will collect your carcass at no cost to your heirs and cremate what's left when they are done. I wouldn't even care about that. If you aren't around anymore what difference does it make what happens to your body or your ashes. When I think about my parents and other family members I think about them in our home, not the cemetary.
I couldn't do that.

Germanicus
05-18-2014, 05:22 AM
I would not just give them my body. I might consider selling it though. What is a body worthg?

I have wondered what an identity would be worth. because I would be willing to sell mine. Like you can seel your body for a company to tattoo you. What would the CIA pay for a persons identity? You could do a lot with a persons identity if that person was on board.

But yeah I wouldnt just give them my body. They would have to pay for it.

I have thought of making cardboard coffins for poor people. Seems like it would be hard to get going but its a good idea. Cheap cardboard coffins a a great green funeral business idea in my opinion. Many people would buy them. The funeral industry is pretty locked up though it seems to me.

Cardboard coffins. You could make them look nice.

Don
05-18-2014, 09:53 AM
If you go with the burial many areas require a concrete vault or liner to protect the groundwater from decomposing bodies. I know at least some counties in Colorado require the vault even if you have a standard casket and have been embalmed.

countryboy
05-18-2014, 09:58 AM
Are green funerals going to catch on? (http://washingtonexaminer.com/burials-go-green-bodies-interred-in-just-a-cloth-bag-or-wicker-basket/article/2546073)
We didn't go quite that far for my son. But we did skip the embalming. The cemetery required a vault around the casket, so we went with the sealed concrete option. The casket was a simple metal, not bottom of the line, but only a couple of choices above that. The appeal for us in not embalming was that the body would not be desecrated. FYI, in Ohio you have a very short time from death to burial if you choose not to embalm.

Perianne
05-18-2014, 10:00 AM
But yeah I wouldnt just give them my body. They would have to pay for it.


They'll write you a check.

Peter1469
05-18-2014, 10:22 AM
They'll write you a check.

:shocked:

Dr. Who
05-18-2014, 11:23 PM
We didn't go quite that far for my son. But we did skip the embalming. The cemetery required a vault around the casket, so we went with the sealed concrete option. The casket was a simple metal, not bottom of the line, but only a couple of choices above that. The appeal for us in not embalming was that the body would not be desecrated. FYI, in Ohio you have a very short time from death to burial if you choose not to embalm.
So sorry for your loss countryboy.

Newpublius
05-18-2014, 11:54 PM
The whole idea of burial is creepy.

Because we've imbued the practice with ceremony and headstones and devoted much land to it. You know, in the South, NOT uncommon to see FAMILY cemeteries right on their property. The sanitary necessity of burying a body is too obvious to dispute.


I am a proponent of cremation.

Well, by all means, I am not saying your practices are wrong. As a matter of fact there's a long history of cremation as well.


Why do we need human skeletons laying about in cemeteries? All it does is fill the pockets of the owners of same, until people stop paying and then the bodies are dumped into a common pit. Cremation is far more dignified. The family scatters the ashes in accordance to the wishes of the departed or perhaps plants a tree upon the ashes.

The need? None, the only need is to properly dispose of corpses. The need is the emotional need of people with respect to burials and headstones....

A picture from Mexico's 'Day of the Dead'

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/CemetarioAlmoloyaRio1995.jpg/800px-CemetarioAlmoloyaRio1995.jpg

Look at that picture, its a cultural gem. We can see generations of people remembering their ancestors.

Dr. Who
05-19-2014, 12:09 AM
Because we've imbued the practice with ceremony and headstones and devoted much land to it. You know, in the South, NOT uncommon to see FAMILY cemeteries right on their property. The sanitary necessity of burying a body is too obvious to dispute.



Well, by all means, I am not saying your practices are wrong. As a matter of fact there's a long history of cremation as well.



The need? None, the only need is to properly dispose of corpses. The need is the emotional need of people with respect to burials and headstones....

A picture from Mexico's 'Day of the Dead'

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/CemetarioAlmoloyaRio1995.jpg/800px-CemetarioAlmoloyaRio1995.jpg

Look at that picture, its a cultural gem. We can see generations of people remembering their ancestors.

One can have markers with cremation, small crypts etc, but burial involves the allocation of land to corpses. From my perspective it is rather macabre, particularly when one envisions all of those skeletons laying beneath the earth and worst still involves the capitalisation by ghouls on the grief of relatives and friends. I personally have no need of markers. My dearly departed live on in my mind and heart. They are not and never were residents of cemeteries and I wouldn't even consider the idea of visiting them there, because they are not there. What is buried is no more than an abandoned suitcase.