[Greenbuilding] Green Funerals

[Jason Holstine]

How many horror movies does that open up‹driving through cemeteries....
Or PSAs about ³drink and drive and we¹ll bury you on the spot²


On 2/2/12 5:05 PM, "bill.allen at verizon.net" <bill.allen at verizon.net> wrote:

> LOVE the idea of using already disturbed land like highway medians, etc. with
> a tree planted on top.  You are on to something there!!!!
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: RT <Archilogic at yahoo.ca>
> Sender: greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
> Date: Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:41:47
> To: Green Building<greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Reply-to: archilogic at chaffyahoo.ca,
>  Green Building <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Green Funerals
> 
> On Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:48:44 -0500, Clarke Olsen <colsen at fairpoint.net>
> wrote:
> 
>> > Sky burial: the corpse is left on a platform for the birds, out of reach
>> > from those predators who might acquire
>> > an appetite for Long Pig, and out of sight for the squeamish.
> 
> Geeze, I knew that I shouldn't have opened my GB list mail in the middle
> of a weekday afternoon.
> 
> I wasn't going to comment on the postings to the "Green Funerals" thread
> until some day when the List is quiet but Clarke sucker-baited me with
> this one.
> 
> While I like the idea of sky burials (moreso than the Two Steves ideas of
> chopping up our loved ones into little pieces and using them for animal
> feed), there's still the issue of what to do with the bones once they have
> been picked clean by the scavengers.
> 
> There is an old Chinese practise that is somewhat similar to sky burials
> where the corpse is buried temporarily for three years and then exhumed
> after decomposition of the soft tissue has been completed and the bones
> are cleaned and transferred to an urn for permanent storage.
> 
> But back to the idea of sky burials or Steve S's advocated Masai practise
> of leaving the corpse just outside of the village for animals to eat...
> 
> I remember a couple of winters ago when taking the mutts out for their
> romps in the surrounding coutryside, whenever we got near to a particular
> woods they'd disappear into the same area every day and not come out again
> until repeated call-back commands were issued.
> 
> One day instead of calling them back, I went into the woods and tracked
> them down.
> 
> It turns out that they had a deer carcase (presumably injured by a car and
> had gone into the woods to die) that they had been snacking on, nicely
> refrigerated by the Kanata winter so that the meat was as fresh and
> colourful as the day the deer died.
> 
> It took them a good two weeks to finish it off IIRC.
> 
> I can imagine a pet owner out for a walk with their kids and pets in the
> country on a Sunday afternoon and going looking for a pet who was ingoring
> their call-back commands and then coming upon a grisly scene of Muffy
> snacking on the corpse of a recently passed-way neighbour or friend or
> relative. Ggggnnna-aa.
> 
> Nope. I think burial is a better option.
> 
> Another person suggested that burial was "unsustainable" because it takes
> up so much space.
> 
> OTOH, an argument could be made that cemeteries create invaluable
> greenspace in urban areas, the vegetation helping to clean and filter the
> polluted city air.
> 
> Combining this notion with Mike O's idea of land trusts...
> 
> What if everywhere a body is buried, a tree is planted directly over the
> corpse ?  In urban areas, there's no reason why boulevards could not be
> provided on every street for this purpose. As with cemeteries, that area
> would be considered "sacred ground" and by Law, could not be disturbed, in
> perpetuity.
> 
> Of course, like Masai animal feeding-burials and First Nations Peoples'
> sky burials, Sacred Boulevards would never happen in North America.
> 
> 

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