Not Into Regular Burial Or Cremation? How About Becoming Compost?

Discussion in 'In the News' started by Babs Hunt, Feb 12, 2019.

  1. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    https://www.breitbart.com/environme...PswGeR_38wfeH2AffcS-syr35h1rt1SWc1_npsaWbhjBE
    composting-human-remains-washington-state-640x480.png

    If they pass this law then you will have your choice sooner or later of having a regular burial in a coffin when you die, being cremated, or becoming compost for your family or strangers.

    This is creepy to me....especially the part in the article that basically is saying there will be dead body farms where the bodies will be turned into compost.

    Don't worry...if you think this might be a cheaper expense than regular funeral prices or cremation...I'm sure if they pass this bill there will be a nice hefty price tag for becoming compost too.

    Do you even think you could use a family's member's composted body to feed your garden, etc. Not in my lifetime but since I know anything goes these days....my opinion might be very different from yours.

    So what do you think? Compost or not?
     
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  2. Maggie Mae

    Maggie Mae Veteran Member
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  3. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    #3
  4. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Composting is pretty much what has happened with regular people throughout history. I know that there have long been steps to preserve the body, after death, but these were only for the elite, just as many people cannot afford to buy durable caskets, or choose not to have their loved ones spend money on such things. Laws differ from state to state but, in Texas, you can choose to bury your loved ones without the ritual of replacing blood with other chemicals, and you can use a cardboard casket if you want to, much as people were buried in holes during our pioneer days. There are laws as to how deep someone has to be buried, and I don't think people are being buried in vegetable gardens, so I suppose it could be argued that they are not producing usable compost.

    I would prefer a traditional burial, I suppose, in a cheap, non-durable, casket, and I think I'd prefer to skip the preparation rituals, including the open casket. However, it all has become so expensive. As Babs pointed out, however, whatever the means, we can be assured that the expenses will reach the limits of what people can pay.
     
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  5. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    I just can't see composting body farms or taking home the compost of a loved ones body to put in my flower bed or garden. I can't see turning dead bodies into diamonds either...though I know some people are doing that too. Could you imagine someone coming up to you and telling you that they finally got the diamond they had waited for their husband to give them their whole marriage...and the diamond is their husband. No way!
     
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  6. Mary Robi

    Mary Robi Veteran Member
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    I'm opting for cremation.

    It's going to be my last chance at having a hot smokin' bod.
     
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  7. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    Saw something like that on FB recently and thought to myself: "Well that's a positive way to think about cremation." :)

    I still have some hairs that stand up on my head when I think about being cremated...even though I know my body is just a shell that will no longer hold my soul when I die. So I tell my Honey and my children that I don't care if they cremate me when I die...I just don't want to talk about it or think about it while I'm alive. I can talk about all the other parts of leaving this earth for my heavenly home and what I want and don't want. But stating that I don't mind if I'm cremated after I die is all the talking about it I want to do...smokin' hot body or not. :)
     
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  8. Tom Galty

    Tom Galty Veteran Member
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    When I married my wife she had Medical problems and we both thought and knew she would die before me, which she did at 61.

    When she was young and also a catholic she thought like you I must be buried.

    Two weeks before she died after just being diagnosed with Small cell lung cancer.

    I discussed this with her about her burial

    She was adamant that she must and wanted to be cremated.

    Which she was.

    I have her ashes in my bedroom which I do find a comfort in

    I also did put some of he ashes in a jar and buried it at her parents grave.

    I wont to go over to her Irish birth of place in Cork and have some of her ashes scattered at the grave yard which is just off Blaney St which over looks the City of Cork which she loved looking over as a child.

    So Part of her is with her parents and part of her is still with me
     
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  9. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    In my case it's not so much that I feel I have to be buried....it's more that hot fire reminds me of the fires of hell...and since cremation is hot fire...I'm just not sure I want to go there. But after I die I know I will be with my heavenly Father...so my family can do whatever they want to do with my shell then. :)
     
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  10. Lulu Moppet

    Lulu Moppet Veteran Member
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    There are already 'Body Farms' where decomposition is studied for scientific reasons as well as helping police, etc. determine what happened to a discovered corpse.

    I told my son to mix my ashes with my husband's and our cat's and do what he thinks is right with it. Since my daughter died before my husband, I already buried her ashes at my father's grave where his heart was, below. If I realized I'd lose my husband, I wouldn't have buried her ashes, but it's a blessing Not to see the future.
     
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  11. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    Yes I know, there's an Author who writes her books around those "Body Farms"....and I can understand how studying the decomposition can help them solve crimes, etc.

    But a composting farm as a form of 'burial" just creeps me out. Different strokes for different folks though and I'm sure there will be those who go for it if they do decide to pass a law making those composting farms legal.
     
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  12. Lulu Moppet

    Lulu Moppet Veteran Member
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    Creeps me out too!
     
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  13. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    The most famous and first (as far as I know) body farm is Tennessee. While I found it a bit creepy, the forensic knowledge obtained from that place is incredible. Much of what we know about how corpses decay was a result of the work done on "The Farm". They do some of their work with pig carcasses, but humans decay slightly differently from pigs. I don't wish to be cremated for a number of reasons, one of which is that many criminal acts are covered by cremation, as it destroys any evidence left on the body. There are many incompetent death investigations, and if you want to re-check results of a post-mortem, you cannot exhume a cremated body. Burying the cremains would be the next best thing, since I know how helpful it has been finding gravesites of lost relatives has been to people doing genealogy research. It also provides a mourning spot where people who survive the deceased can go in remembrance. Alaska allows you to bury people almost anywhere, but that is seldom done unless there is a family plot on a homestead. The last time I checked, the Catholic Church now allows cremation, but frowns on the scattering of the ashes. They want the ashes to remain together.

    Personally, I think being buried unembalmed and having a long-lived tree planted over the site would be a suitable memorial, with perhaps a brass plaque to mark the site would be best.
     
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  14. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    There is always The Living Urn, which grows a tree (or some other plant) with the cremated remains, which pretty much pays a third-party for something that could be done without them.

    On the subject of cremation, I have heard that, with less than ethical cremation services, the cremated remains that are returned to your family are not necessarily of their loved one. When they have multiple cremations on the same day, they might mix them.
     
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  15. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    There's always the possibility things could go wrong whichever way you decide to "lay your body" to rest. Honestly, I'm leaving a shell behind that I will no longer need so if someone messes up with my shell it will be their problem, not mine. As long as they can not mess up with my Soul which will be in heaven with God...mess ups with my shell will not bother me in the least. :)
     
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