Scientist says cremation should meet a timely death

[almaty 19]

SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian scientist called Wednesday for an end to the age-old tradition of cremation, saying the practice contributed to global warming.

Professor Roger Short said people could instead choose to help the environment after death by being buried in a cardboard box under a tree.

The decomposing bodies would provide the tree with nutrients, and the tree would convert carbon dioxide into life-giving oxygen for decades, he said.

"The important thing is, what a shame to be cremated when you go up in a big bubble of carbon dioxide," Short told AFP.

"Why waste all that carbon dioxide on your death?"

Short said the cremation of the average male in Australia, during which the body is heated to 850 degrees Celsius (1,562 degrees Fahrenheit) for 90 minutes, produced more than 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of carbon dioxide.

And that doesn't include the carbon cost of fuel, or the cost of the emissions released during the production and burning of the wooden casket.

Short, a reproductive biologist at the University of Melbourne, said the contribution of cremation to harmful greenhouse gases was small, and he did not wish to prevent people from choosing how their body was disposed of according to their religion.

But to bury the hatchet with environmentalists, he suggested it would not be a bad idea to bequeath one's body as food for a forest.

"You can actually do, after your death, an enormous amount of good for the planet," he said. "The more forests you plant, the better."

[mawilson 2,133]

Oh please. Someone please talk to the volcanoes about global warming.

[Nagishkaw 510]

Good Lord! What's next?

[eric&gen 0]

####### LOL

[almaty 19]

yes, bury the dead..of course, i am sure that be a cause of water pollution too

[homesick_american 1]

What he's suggesting is illegal in most if not all fifty states, so it's a moot point for us in the USA anyway.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

plus, what about the SPACE used for burials (which is one of the reasons for cremation in the first place)?

[Ladylethal 12]

I think space is the main reason for cremation. Those packed full cemeteries that can't accomodate anymore, and those awful drawers they use then, that the bodies don't even stay in contact with soil, it's even worse in my opinion.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

I want to be buried in a cardboard box in a tree.

[Robor007 0]

Oh please. Someone please talk to the volcanoes about global warming.

Wait a minute... What about cremation *IN* a volcano?

Brilliant!

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Oh please. Someone please talk to the volcanoes about global warming.

Wait a minute... What about cremation *IN* a volcano?

Brilliant!

now that's thinking!!!

[Dr. Obvious 49]

What he's suggesting is illegal in most if not all fifty states, so it's a moot point for us in the USA anyway.

No, it is not. It is just most people don't know what their options are.

Check this out:

http://www.memorialecosystems.com/FAQs/tabid/55/Default.aspx

http://www.funerals.org/faq/embalm.htm

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Why spend eternity alone in an urn when you can spend it with others in a Charnel House