[Greenbuilding] FW: Green Death

[Bill Hutchins]

from my wife.......

and lawrence, what is your source
for emissions from cremation?

best,
bill
www.heliconworks.com



-----Original Message-----
From: Beth Knox [mailto:bethknox at earthlink.net]
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 12:21 PM
To: Bill Hutchins
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Green Death


Hi Lawrence,
Re: your green death message
Green burial - ie not embalmed, not cremated - is a very viable alternative
to the present scenario.  It is gaining in popularity as individuals get
educated on these topics.  I am executive director of a non-profit called
Crossings (www.crossings.net) which educates exactly on these topics.
Embalming is never required by law, so don't let anyone tell you it is.  It
is not a matter of state law that mandates embalming, but the funeral home's
policies.  Families have the right to care for their own departed, foregoing
the intervention of a funeral home and these policies, in 45 out of the 50
states. Every state needs a green burial preserve.  For a list of the
current ones, go to www.forestofmemories.org.  Also, green burial is often
allowed on private land.

There are options besides the one you propose (they are going to embalm the
dickens out of you at a medical school and THEN cremate you), more
ecologically sound, psychologically healing, and spiritually nurturing.  To
say nothing of being more loving.

all the best,
beth



|
| -----Original Message-----
| From: greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org
| [mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org]On Behalf Of Lawrence
| Lile
| Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 9:57 AM
| To: Greenbuilder list
| Subject: [Greenbuilding] Green Death
|
|
| So much for recycling: Burials in America deposit 827,060 gallons of
| embalming fluid-formaldehyde, methanol, and ethanol-into the soil each
| year. Cremation pumps dioxins, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, and
| carbon dioxide into the air.  It is actually legal in some states to
| bury corpses without embalming, however it takes special procedures (I
| know someone who insisted they be buried in this manner).
|
| Alternatively . . . A Swedish company, Promessa, will freeze-dry your
| body in liquid nitrogen, pulverize it with high-frequency vibrations,
| and seal the resulting powder in a cornstarch coffin. They claim this
| "ecological burial" will decompose in 6 to 12 months.
|
| I wonder how much Carbon Dioxide each of us will turn into if we are
| cremated?
|
| Personally I'll donate my body to science.  Let some med student learn
| how to transplant livers on me.  They'll end up cremating me anyway but
| at least I'll hit a lick for science on the way out.
|
|
| -Lawrence Lile
|
|
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