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Urban Death Project Aims To Rebuild Our Soil By Composting Corpses (inhabitat.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The Urban Death Project utilizes the process of composting to safely and gently turn our deceased into soil-building material, creating a meaningful, equitable and ecological urban alternative to existing options for the disposition of the dead," said Katrina Spade, a designer based in Seattle. "The project is a solution to the overcrowding of city cemeteries, a sustainable method of disposing of our dead, and a new ritual for laying our loved ones to rest."
Sky burial has been practiced in Tibet for millennia.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
And mix the ashes with a tad of soil and use that to plant a tree in a vase, when the tree grows a little, transplant it to ground.
But DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES compost me!
PS: In reality, my ashes will be thrown at sea. BUT DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES compost me!
Cannot imagine whay that would bother you. Composting will certainly give back to the earth and to future generations.
I have to note that I wanted cremated and flushed down the toilet at either a stripper bar or McDonald's. But this could be interesting. I'm envisioning my corpse being fed to one of those instant grinders like they use for rooster chicks (since only the hens lay eggs, and it's about a 50:50 mix at birth, so you do the math - then turning me into a nice compost for flowers or veggies.
Would vegans refuse to eat veggies grown from human content compost?
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Dead bodies are buried under the cherry trees. -- Motojirou Kajii.
I imagine a field where they recycle our flesh filled with bright red cherry trees in full bloom.
The person in charge of me and my stuff when I'm gone knows 1 thing: as long as I'm dead I don't care what you do with me. Cremate me, bury me, donate me to science, chop me in pieces and toss me in the trash, I don't care. Just make sure I'm dead first.
I was looking into the same thing a couple years ago and came to the same conclusion. It ain't easy. Even in states where it is legal, there are few choices. If I recall correctly, I found two locations in my state where a natural burial is possible, tho I may have extended my search to neighboring states. They still require a container because reasons but at least it can be biodegradable.
I'm not sure. Consider the nature of reincarnation. I don't know where I'm going with this.
Usually, I say I want to be cremated because I don't trust the living to respect my body, since I have body parts of both genders. I always imagine they'd do something more fucked up to it than they already have, just to make a good looking young man in that coffin. So, I want it burned in the event that a Matheson "What Dreams May Come" afterlife is the true fate of souls. Then I can lol as I watch the monstrosity that isn't me burn before I go into the light.
However, if somebody could guaranteed that this body would be added to a composting heap undisturbed, to let microorganisms break down its proteins, then perhaps that compost could be laid somewhere and maybe somebody would plant wildflowers (or some kind of flowers at least) in it. Then its proteins and other molecules could be repurposed as a flower garden. I wouldn't mind that, even in a Matheson "What Dreams May Come" scenario.
But yeah, ultimately, I cannot trust humans to respect my body parts. Burn it, I say. Less to hang on to after death. I guess it's vanity in the end. Vanity ties us to this existence.
In an empirical sense, yes, funerals are for the living. I'm just worried all this mysticism shit might not be made up. Funerals could be for the dead as well.
Medication is a huge issue when it comes to human waste. Lots and lots and lots of the drugs we take pass nasty by products into our waste that aren't easily removed. So one of the challenges around waste treatment plants is the disposal of the solid/sludge component. It isn't something that you could use as fertilizer without health impacts.
When expanding highway 75, the main North/South artery that passes the downtown Dallas area around 1990, ground from an old forgotten cemetery was disturbed, and some of the construction workers were getting sick. Here is a few details of what they found. http://www.cemeteries-of-tx.co...
That this "idea" comes from Seattle should be one of your first clues that this is a bad idea.