Eco-friendly burials have been popular in Britain for years, but industry experts say it's starting to catch on in the U.S., where "green" cemeteries hosting natural burials have sprouted up in California, Florida, New York, South Carolina and Texas.
The majority of eco-friendly burial products come from overseas - including the Ecopod, which is made in the United Kingdom - although there are a few domestic makers. Options range from natural-fiber shrouds to fair-trade bamboo caskets lined with unbleached cotton. There are also more traditional-looking handcrafted coffins made of wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.Basic cardboard models sell for as little as $100, and probably fold neatly for storage in your basement. Snazzier hand-painted models fetch up to $3,000.
Protecting the earth after death: Biodegradable coffins [AP]
(Photo: Edward All ?s)
As someone who actually built Jewish coffins for a period, I can confirm what Clays posted above. Plain wood coffins with no metal fasteners. I used sanded plywood and dowels.
]]>It's a conspiracy, I tell ya. A conspiracy!
]]>My grandfather was actually buried in one of the carboard ones back in 1992. It's what he wanted, since he was a nature nut who didn't want to contaminate the ground if he could help it, and he also didn't want us to spend a ton on a box that was just going to sit in the ground. It wasn't too bad, it's just a box afterall.
]]>I'll just cryogenically freeze my head until they invent that head in a jar.
]]>People are just dying to get into these cemeteries!
]]>Either that, or burial at sea.
]]>@BrockBrockman: Hippie environmentalist vegetarians can't eat brains. They'd all starve.
@Martha_Jones: So arrest me. Just remember to bring a bag. *cough*
I hike enough to make it a plausible body dump. When the rangers/hikers find my jaw or skull I'm sure the dumper can squeeze out a few tears and a gasp of horror.
I want to be buried like Lenin. I may not be a world leader, but I'm not responsible for the murder of millions either. I think I deserve it!
]]>Ummm ... am I the only one worried about how this affects the impending zombie threat?
]]>The reason I don't favor cremation is that I'd rather decompose naturally and return to the earth. But cemeteries take up a lot of space, and a lot of chemicals go into keeping that grass green and purty. I might be most down with the whole dump-me-in-a-valley thing. But can I see my kids being okay with doing that? Will have to work on raising them twisted!
]]>@GitEmSteveDave: "Second burial" is practiced in other cultures, too. Ancient Jews in the time of Jesus did this. (Yay, History Channel.)
I think that buying my coffin ahead of time and keeping it in my basement, while practical, is kinda creepy.
]]>Funerals are for the living, not the dead.
]]>When you die, do you really need a coffin? as horrible as it sounds to some, why waste the resources and money on a box that you'll never see or get to consiously use.
I want my body put in a mountain valley, to rot or be eaten by animals that can use the meat more than I can (Lets face it, once i'm dead i don't need it no more...) I don't want to rot in a city... enough stench of rot there already...
]]>@coloradoshark:
It definitely wasn't meant to start a religious war. Just a nod to the practicality of my peeps is all.
My brother in law is buried in a mausoleum. That gives me the willies - die, get stuck into a stone wall inside a heavy box. Those require tons of maintenance and air conditioning.
]]>Please, let's not get into a religious war about this. Americans, at least, are very cafeteria style about their religions. I wonder if other countries treat religion similarly.
]]>Unless it was alien Michael Vick and I was forced to fight to the death against other aliens in an underground alien fighting ring. Basically like a combination of Predator and Gladiator... yeah...
]]>I'm donating my body to science fiction...
]]>According to Jewish law, coffins are made of wood, with no metal fasteners used. The concept is that the body should decompose uninhibited, so very thick wood is avoided. Embalming is not permitted for that same reason.
]]>i want to be cremated and have my ashes put in jessica simpson lotion. TMI? sorry.
]]>if you want to top it why not just donate your body to science or to a forensic school where they let bodies decompose in the open to study decomposition & insects' effect on the body etc. etc..
Just burn my body & throw the ashes somewhere. The hell with "death carbon footprints" .
]]>www.tian.cc
]]>@mir777: I've never heard of that. Of the many Jewish relatives I've witnessed buried, only one was in a pine box. The rest were regular, fancy caskets.
]]>can't wait for that cemetary to flood.
]]>Sounds like a nice idea, but a major reason for concrete vaults (required in many cemeteries) is to prevent subsidence, which is a real hazard. I worked in a cemetery when I was in college. In the older section, in which vaults had not been required, it was a frequent event for the ground to collapse under a visitor's (or worker's) foot. Not only is injury possible, but it is creepy as hell.
]]>I should know this, but aren't Jewish coffins 'green?' (ie, plain wooden boxes).
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