Drinking Grandma

The boys at Monty Python probably said it best about the funeral business - - "We can bury her, burn her, or dump her." In the context of sustainability, which is best - - bury, burn or dump? Consider the following facts (from Exit Strategies: Green funerals, The Economist, September 18, 2010) - -

• Cremation produces 160 kg of carbon dioxide, while burial emits 39 kg of carbon dioxide. But this is misleading - - because mowing lawns and the like makes the carbon footprint much, much larger.


• Coffin makers utilizing hardwoods are on the rise - - especially woods like mahogany.


• Vaults are cumbersome and expensive.


• Formaldehyde leaking into the groundwater can produce potential health risks. Cremations can produce mercury emissions from dental fillings.


• Approximately 20% of all AARP members want greener burials. Greener might be - - sharing hearses or using homegrown flowers and coffins made with cardboard or willow.


• Some want to be buried in natural habitats - - no headstones, plot, or vaults (a more civilized version of "or dump her").


• Water cremation is catching on overseas - - where a corpse is placed into a heated solution of water and potassium hydroxide (look for product placement in the next Bond movie). After a few hours, Grandma is ready to be used as liquid fertilizer.


• Freeze drying via liquid nitrogen, then vibrated so that it dissolves into a fine powder (maybe like Saw VII for this one).

Look for the ideas of sustainability to run into the walls of cultural norms and political forces (as LBJ demonstrated - - even the dead vote).