Cremation Without All That Burning And Emissions.

Burial, Cremation or Cryomation?Reuters posted an article, “Body disposal technology widens green funeral choice,” about changing the way we complete our final act. For some, it will still involve a large casket, headstone and a lot of guilt being absorbed by your relatives for not going bigger. For others, it’s a hot exit via cremation. Unfortunately, cremating a body uses about as much energy as the crematee would have used in a month, alive, and will release a good chunk of CO2 and mercury (from tooth fillings). It’s estimate that in the UK, 16% of the mercury emitted each year comes from crematoriums.

So your final act isn’t because your Greenhouse CO2 gas and toxic mercury will be haunting the still living and contributing to more problems.

That’s why companies like Cryomation Ltd want to change the way bodies are cremated by going to the other extreme – freezing. Their technique is to use liquid nitrogen and freeze the body until it is brittle, remove the mercury-carrying choppers and then turn the remains into a powder. No emissions and the same result.

In 2010, I wrote about how people are moving toward more natural burials. I talked to my daughter about this and told her that I want to be cremated (pre-Cryomation story). She asked me where I wanted to be spread and I pointed out to her that she could dump me someplace she thought was special and her brothers could do the same. My daughter thought about it, the sharing with her brothers part, and she pointed out a good way to do this is to “cut my body into even thirds” so they could each get a chunk to cremate. Basically she wanted to part me out! I had to explain to her that it might be easier to cremate me first and then split the ashes into thirds. She agreed and I was relieved that we had the talk. [Reuters ]