Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Ways you can help the environment when you die

Here is something that you could do to make a lasting positive environmental impact without being inconvenienced by it in the least: plan for a green funeral. How ridiculous is it to waste resources on embalming fluids, coffins, concrete vaults and space in the ground for dead people?

There are several alternatives to this wasteful practice of traditional burial, such as cremation, burial reefs and natural burials. Cremation is not without its environmental impacts (air pollution, use of electricity and gases to name a few) but it has much less impact than pumping your carcass full of chemicals and wasting space in the ground. If you choose cremation, you can have your ashes put in a burial reef, which lets your remains be used as part of a man-made reef for sea habitat. Natural burials, which do not allow vaults and require simple pine or cardboard coffins are the friendliest choice to the environment. These kinds of burials allow the body to return to the Earth in a very natural way. You can choose various markers, including rocks and trees.

These alternatives sound like great things to do for the environment that won’t inconvenience you a bit.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

You could also set up a Donor Advised fund at the Columbia foundation!