It is a little morbid but do I guess we can talk about funerals. Do you plan on having a green funeral? With all the chemicals they put in the body to embalm and preserve, which is silly if you ask me, and the chemicals in the coffin itself, we are adding to the pollution in the earth. What do you think?
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12
Green Funerals
Started by happyrocinante, May 09 2012 04:58 PM
19 replies to this topic
#2
Posted 20 May 2012 - 07:41 PM
I'm surprised no one posted on here! I am all for cremation. I do not want to be burried or have my family spend thousands of dollars for a box that is going into the ground. I would rather have them use that money for charity.
#3
Posted 20 May 2012 - 07:56 PM
Well they also say that when you are cremated you are also releasing pollution into the air because of the smoke involved. I agree though; I plan to be cremated as well. In a basic pine box! Why spend all that money for something to just sit and burn or rot. I even made my husband promise to have my wake, if there is one, at a local park or something instead of paying for people to come look at my corpse or urn. 
#4
Posted 21 May 2012 - 05:30 PM
Unless one can have the funeral expenses covered in anticipation, how can we plan how one's funeral is going to be?
I may like to have a green funeral, but if I have not the money to pay for it, how can I ask my family to give me one when I don't even know if they will have a way to survive without me?
I may like to have a green funeral, but if I have not the money to pay for it, how can I ask my family to give me one when I don't even know if they will have a way to survive without me?
#5
Posted 23 May 2012 - 05:56 AM
I can't bear the thought of cremation, for reasons I have explained in another post, but I'd like my funeral to be as green as it can be. I'd be happy with a cardboard coffin, or something else equally biodegradable, and I don't want to be pumped full of embalming fluid. I'd like to be taken to my resting place by a horse and cart, and I'd make a last request for my loved ones to car share or hire a bus to take them to the funeral. Actually, that would be a good idea, because they could all raise a toast to me without worrying about drinking and driving!
#6
Posted 23 May 2012 - 08:41 AM
I have never heard of a green funeral before. I will probably be cremated because of where I will most likely be buried. I had not thought of the environmental effects of a burial before. I found this website that has information on green funerals. I haven't looked it over completely but they have a planner tool under the "What you can do" section.
http://www.greenburialcouncil.org/
http://www.greenburialcouncil.org/
#8
Posted 27 May 2012 - 08:32 PM
If given a choice, I would prefer cremation over the traditional burying of the dead. More economical and I think more greener for me. It is a one time scenario and cah-out for my family consedering keeping a tomb for your dead ones would require maintenance.
#9
Posted 01 September 2012 - 09:41 PM
I think green funerals are great. They are especially fitting if you've lived your life in practice of green actions.
But here's where my concern comes in. As with a lot of green products/technologies, I've heard green funerals are significantly more expensive. Is that fact or fiction? If it's true it will limit the amount of people who can have a green funeral. When in my opinion, less chemicals should be cheaper!
But here's where my concern comes in. As with a lot of green products/technologies, I've heard green funerals are significantly more expensive. Is that fact or fiction? If it's true it will limit the amount of people who can have a green funeral. When in my opinion, less chemicals should be cheaper!
#10
Posted 04 September 2012 - 10:07 AM
Cremations are very polluting because of smoke emissions. Also they use a lot of energy and fuel to produce the heat required. On the other hand emablaming fluids are polluting to the soil and expensive, hardwood coffins come from trees which have taken years to grow.
A green funeral in which the unembalmed body is placed in a biodegradable coffin is probably the most eco-friendly way. They are expensive at the moment because land is having to be bought for them.
My mother had a grenn funeral with a wicker casket. there is a meadow full of meadow grass and wild flowers where she was buried. there are no headstones or any other greener markers of individual plots. But there is a register which is always ooen on today's date and people can have names and dates chiselled into the drystone wall surrounding the meadow if they choose.
It was expensive compared to other methods but it was what she wanted and had planned for.
A green funeral in which the unembalmed body is placed in a biodegradable coffin is probably the most eco-friendly way. They are expensive at the moment because land is having to be bought for them.
My mother had a grenn funeral with a wicker casket. there is a meadow full of meadow grass and wild flowers where she was buried. there are no headstones or any other greener markers of individual plots. But there is a register which is always ooen on today's date and people can have names and dates chiselled into the drystone wall surrounding the meadow if they choose.
It was expensive compared to other methods but it was what she wanted and had planned for.
#11
Posted 04 September 2012 - 04:35 PM
I wish to be cremated as well. I have learned that funeral directors have stopped embalming people, because there are so many preservatives and chemicals in food, people don't need to be embalmed anymore. All very interesting.
#12
Posted 05 September 2012 - 10:43 AM
I don't know how green cremation is, but that is what I prefer. With all that fire I would think it would be contributing to unnecessary gases on Earth, but I think it is a much greener solution and more efficient way to leave than taking up space in a cemetery. If ever I do change my mind though, I will probably go for an eco friendly coffin as a substitute. They are available nowadays and I assume they will be more readily available and hopefully cheaper by the time I kick the bucket.
But it is green for sure. #14
Posted 10 December 2012 - 10:43 PM
I think, just wait till major food crisis will arrive to those parts - then you'll see 'em eating those very vultures they are now trying to protect, as well as eating their own dead. That will be ick factor proper.
Though perhaps this won't happen - may be our american friends will finally do what Randy Newman talks about in his "political science" song. Won't be very green right away, but with time, it most likely will become greener than anything else.
Though perhaps this won't happen - may be our american friends will finally do what Randy Newman talks about in his "political science" song. Won't be very green right away, but with time, it most likely will become greener than anything else.
#16
Posted 11 May 2013 - 06:08 PM
Update-
There's a growing trend for green burials; bamboo, cardboard, etc.- no chemicals.
The total tonnage of metal, cement and embalming fluids used is astonishing, not to mention the mountains that are being
decimated for head stones.
More people are embracing green in the end.
Article
There's a growing trend for green burials; bamboo, cardboard, etc.- no chemicals.
The total tonnage of metal, cement and embalming fluids used is astonishing, not to mention the mountains that are being
decimated for head stones.
More people are embracing green in the end.
Article
#17
Posted 12 May 2013 - 03:26 AM
I will be cremated. However, I am planning on having my ashes preserved until they can be shot into the sun. I have always wanted to go to the stars and I will get there one way or another. Kind of green, but mostly not.
My wife is planning for the ultimate green death. When she dies every part of her body that can be will be donated to organ donation. Her body will then be picked up by the Body Farm in Knoxville where her body will be used in decomposition research for forensics. The funeral will cost us nothing because the fees for transport are covered by the Body Farm.
My wife is planning for the ultimate green death. When she dies every part of her body that can be will be donated to organ donation. Her body will then be picked up by the Body Farm in Knoxville where her body will be used in decomposition research for forensics. The funeral will cost us nothing because the fees for transport are covered by the Body Farm.
#18
Posted 12 May 2013 - 07:36 AM
Cremation for me.
Close family only. No need to waste money and needlessly use fuel to drive to a ceremony I don't want.
Nor taking time off work.
I have no belief in any religion and no expectation of any sort of life after death.
Dead is just dead.
Maybe my wife and my children will continue think of me as a fairly decent bloke. I won't know.
Close family only. No need to waste money and needlessly use fuel to drive to a ceremony I don't want.
Nor taking time off work.
I have no belief in any religion and no expectation of any sort of life after death.
Dead is just dead.
Maybe my wife and my children will continue think of me as a fairly decent bloke. I won't know.
#19
Posted 12 May 2013 - 07:38 AM
DeeNeely, on 12 May 2013 - 03:26 AM, said:
My wife is planning for the ultimate green death. When she dies every part of her body that can be will be donated to organ donation. Her body will then be picked up by the Body Farm in Knoxville where her body will be used in decomposition research for forensics. The funeral will cost us nothing because the fees for transport are covered by the Body Farm.
#20
Posted 13 May 2013 - 05:58 AM
"Gaseous emissions are by far the greatest source of cremation pollution and thus far the only
crematorium waste that is regulated.
In addition to harmless compounds such as water vapor (H2O), emissions include the green house gas carbon dioxide (CO2); pollutants and
carcinogens carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NO2), and sulfur oxide (SO2);
volatile acids such as hydrogen chloride (HCl) and hydrogen fluoride (HF), both of which form during
vaporization of plastics or insulation; and mercury (often from dental fillings).
Organic compounds such as benzenes, furans and acetone are also emitted and react with HCl and HF
under combustion conditions to form polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), both of which are carcinogens. Hg, PCDDs, and PCDFs are of special concern because they are susceptible to bioaccumulation."
Source
The EPA estimates crematoriums emit 320 pounds of mercury per year. Some crematoriums have
filters but many do not.
The article also talks about the "baby boomers" but many (if not most) have dentures, and their
mercury filled teeth are long gone.
Article
Much more worrisome is the discard of mercury fillings by dentists, which is unregulated; according to WIKI.
http://en.wikipedia....gam_controversy
Sorry for the small print.
crematorium waste that is regulated.
In addition to harmless compounds such as water vapor (H2O), emissions include the green house gas carbon dioxide (CO2); pollutants and
carcinogens carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NO2), and sulfur oxide (SO2);
volatile acids such as hydrogen chloride (HCl) and hydrogen fluoride (HF), both of which form during
vaporization of plastics or insulation; and mercury (often from dental fillings).
Organic compounds such as benzenes, furans and acetone are also emitted and react with HCl and HF
under combustion conditions to form polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), both of which are carcinogens. Hg, PCDDs, and PCDFs are of special concern because they are susceptible to bioaccumulation."
Source
The EPA estimates crematoriums emit 320 pounds of mercury per year. Some crematoriums have
filters but many do not.
The article also talks about the "baby boomers" but many (if not most) have dentures, and their
mercury filled teeth are long gone.
Article
Much more worrisome is the discard of mercury fillings by dentists, which is unregulated; according to WIKI.
http://en.wikipedia....gam_controversy
Sorry for the small print.
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