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We're going to discuss the pragmatics of death. Forgive me if this post is a bit morbid.

Everyone has to deal with death sooner or later. When I die, I intend to be cremated for scattering. I recently discovered there's such a thing as aquamation -- cremation in water rather than fire. Sounds good, right? There's a problem I'm having a hard time getting past.

Water cremation takes place in a tank that's filled 3/4 with water to which an alkalai solution is added. The water is brought to a boil for three hours and the alkalai dissolves all the soft tissue and internal organs leaving only the bleached white bones which are pulverized and returned to the family for scattering or interment or whatever.

My problem is what becomes of the rest of the body. It dissolves into a honey colored sludge that is then, well, quite bluntly flushed into the municipal sewage system. You're quite literally flushed down the toilet. That's the part that;s vexing me. It's such an ignominious fate. If they did anything else I'd be okay with it but I don't want my sludge mixing with all...that. UGH!

Knowing this, would anyone considering cremation opt for this alternative?

Sgt_Spanky 8 Feb 8
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36 comments

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7

I just saw a video on composting . Being a gardener , of the options available - burial , cremation , donated to science or for practice by doctors , I would feel so much better if my remains were composted . A nice side issue is , if you should happen to discover you aren't dead yet , you can still get out . On the other hand if you really are dead , once composted you can relive life as a beautiful flower kissing birds or bees and sitting in the warm sunshine .

Watching the video it was clearly the best idea I've ever heard of for managing the dead. It should be available across the country as an option. It also makes perfect sense since it simply allows nature to do what it does to dead things -- decompose and recycle.

7

I'm sticking with regular cremation.
Although, the idea of becoming part of an artificial reef is appealing.

You should check out Diaco's video below. It's all about life from death. It wasn't even an option I knew was a thing and it's great for treehuggers like me and , I think, you.

Cremation is not good for the environment. Here is a green burial option: [greenburialcouncil.org]

6

You could frame it as a burial at sea. 🙂

5

When you die it want matter to you anymore.

4

After I die, why would I have a problem with what my remains are mixed with? Granted, it's unsavory to think of while I'm alive, but it won't be something I experience. I'll be dead.

4

Think of it like a water slide?

4

I don’t think you’ll know the difference after you’ve died…

But I'm not dead so I do know the difference and I don't think I like it.

4

I have donated my body to the local medical school, I figured I might as well be useful

So did I, but I moved 700 miles, so now I have to reset things.

3

There are many different ways now than cremation or burial. I like the option of being buried and being fertilizer for a tree.

3

I'm going to have a basic simple cremation.

3

Aquamation is better for the environment and uses less energy. I'm in.

3

Back in the 70's, a friend visited a research facility in the Arizona desert. One thing that they did there was boil bodies which were found and too far rotted so as to use the bones for identification. He got to witness it; he also passed out when they lifted up a femur and the flesh fell off; he blames the odor.

3

I’ll take fire, thank you. 🔥

Of course, I won’t be around to know what happens, but I wouldn’t willingly opt for sludge.

Not just sludge but sludge flushed into the sewer. I don't see this ever catching on as a popular option.

3

You will be dead and won't know anything about it. Regardless of what or how, everything returns to basic elements of nature.

I hav \e no issue being reduced to my component molecules, I just don't want to do it as sewage.

@Sgt_Spanky Yeah WE contribute enough of that in our life-time anyway so why add more of it when we are dead.

3

how about "Human Composting" ?! you will go back to nature! personally, I consider it as my way 🙂

Diaco Level 7 Feb 8, 2022

Pls check this Post/Video :
Let's Visit the Human Composting Facility!

@Diaco Great video! I LOVE this option. Life from death; what a great idea. This should be available nationwide but, of course, it's being fought against by the traditional funeral industry and the effing Xians.

Dead bodies can & do contain serious pathogens that can easily be released into the surroundings....they want to live, just like us!
If the composting followed proper procedures 100% of the time, fine, but I notice my compost headp always have too-cool zones unless I am Extremely vigilant, I cannot imagine min.-wage workers caring enough....

2

My mother-in-law had a "natural" burial. They dug a hole and her body was place in it with a biodegradable shroud (a wool blanket). That was it. No embalming, no casket and no vault. I decided at her burial that that is what I want. I purchased a plot in a cemetery that allows such burials. Unfortunately, unless you pack your loved one in dry ice and transport him/her to the cemetery, you still need to involve a funeral home and they find ways to jack up the price. A funeral home located near the cemetery I purchase my plot wants over $4000 to "prepare" me and get me to the cemetery. And that does not include transporting my body from wherever it is that I die (the plot is almost an hour from where I currently live) to the funeral home. Here is a link for more information and maybe even a cemetery near you. [greenburialcouncil.org]

2

My dream, wordless " ceremony " is a simple closed pine crate, with an appropriately located and sized hole drilled in the lid, and the largest whitest dildo the sex toy industry makes protruding to the hilt. A small oscilating battery powerel motor rigged in from the inside would be a nice touch ..........a laugh for my friends. Then the simplest green burial possible where the elements can recycle back to the biosphere. Nothing else.

2

I'm all for doing my part for the living and living ecosystems after I die - organ donation and green burial. With 65 million people dying worldwide each year, it adds up to significant biomass.

Sky burial - the corpse is consumed by vultures - as practiced in Tibet, Nepal, and India appeals to me. Too bad it's not available here. I'd be glad to be eaten by birds or fish after death.

2

I like the concept of being turned into a coral reef, I love scuba diving but if that is not possible then no fancy things and put a tree on me one that the possums, and birds will like I think that would be ecologically sound.

I would worry that the chemical they use to goopify you would be harmful to the aquifer or possibly wildlife. Cremation is the next option with a traditional burial before being goopified.

Cremation is not good for the environment either. [greenburialcouncil.org]

@MyTVC15
Just listing then in order of preference
coral reef
Tree grower
cremation
burial
goopified

2

I didn't know that.
Seems like a dead body's matter
ought to be useful, not just sewage.
Becoming fertilizer sounds good.

2

"Soylent Green is people!"
One of the most unintentionally humorous lines by Charlton Heston ever. And he had many of them.
The tree pod thing sounds appealing. Thousands of dollars to plant a body in a shiny cocoon priced more than a luxury car seems a tremendous waste.
But as others pointed out I will be past caring.

2

I dunno. In comparison, I'm going to have my body harvested for whatever they can use, and I'm sure that's not a pretty process. Then whatever's left will be cremated and given to my daughter to do whatever she sees fit. That may include being flushed down the toilet. But as it's no longer me, I really don't care.

I wonder, though, what's the benefit to water cremation that you would want it instead of cremation by fire? It seems like a lot of extra steps for a reason I don't understand.

My initial interest was that it's inexpensive and eco-friendly. I've since found something much better.

@Sgt_Spanky Is it the one where they use you to feed coral reefs? Because that sounded cool to me.

@Lauren Close. It's the one featured in Diaco's video posted below where you're naturally reduced to a nutrient rich soil for growing flowers, lants, and trees.

@Lauren Pls. check this out :
Let's Visit the Human Composting Facility!

@Diaco That's very cool. Definitely something I would consider. I love her! She used to have a series "Ask a Mortician" and it was fascinating, particularly the historical ones.

2

Who the fuck cares, you will be dead anyway.

2

Ohferpetessake,like you will care at that point?

If it doesn't matter then you should will your remains to me so I can piss on them each morning. Whereas I think it does matter what becomes of my remains, it matters to me and yours should matter to you.

@Sgt_Spanky no, yours i suppose does matter to you, like you control what happens after you die,a white male fantasy if I ever saw it.
I however obviously do not give one rat's behind & am amazed & appalled that you tell me I Must! Good luck on that......

@AnneWimsey White male fantasy my ass. Like white males are the only ppl who die or consider what happens to their remains after death. Everyone chooses the fate that most appeals to them. That's why no one ever says "Just leave me out to rot next to a river bank."

@Sgt_Spanky "everyone chooses [their] fate".
Res ipsa.

2

I'd need to learn more about aquamation but what you described makes me feel a bit squeamish. I performed a funeral service for a woman who requested a celebration around the pushing of the incinerator button. It would take some getting used to the idea of pushing a button to make Julie soup. I'm also having a hard time wrapping my head around it, but the same goes for any new idea for me.

Green burial is the best for the environment. Here is a link if you are interested. [greenburialcouncil.org]

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