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2007-04-19 Down Under
Cremation Contributes to Global Warming: Australian Expert
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Posted by Dave D. 2007-04-19 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

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

I hate to bring it to him, but the state after death is hardly conductive to planting forests. He may have watched one zombie movie too many.
Posted by twobyfour 2007-04-19 00:14||   2007-04-19 00:14|| Front Page Top

#2 I wonder if any study has been done on the best combination of insects to decompose a recently deceased human body. Most likely it would involve fly maggots plus a combination of different beetles to "lick the platter clean", leaving only clean bones.
Posted by Anonymoose 2007-04-19 00:37||   2007-04-19 00:37|| Front Page Top

#3 -moose, don't give them any ideas how to waste more money for another useless "study"!
Posted by twobyfour 2007-04-19 00:44||   2007-04-19 00:44|| Front Page Top

#4 I imagine the forensic pathologists already know from empirical evidence, Anonymoose. There was a special on such things, I think on PBS, recently. Lots of time lapse photography of Nature disposing of corpses at crime scenes. It was called something like "Animal Crime Witnesses." I was really interested in the concept, until they showed the lockstep sequential activity of the different species of maggots, by which the pathologists can establish the date of death. Ugh!
Posted by trailing wife 2007-04-19 08:29||   2007-04-19 08:29|| Front Page Top

#5 Does this mean I have to stop lighting my farts?
Posted by Raj 2007-04-19 08:53||   2007-04-19 08:53|| Front Page Top

#6 No, Raj. You have to stop farting, since farts contain methane, which is a worse global warming gas than CO2. In fact, it is almost as bad as dihydrogen monoxide vapor. (For the chemically challenged, dihydrogen monoxide is water.)
Posted by Rambler">Rambler  2007-04-19 09:27||   2007-04-19 09:27|| Front Page Top

#7 Green burial is a growing movement. I was gong to be cremated, but I find green burial preferable because it will probably be cheaper and will certainly be less wasteful. The world does not seem to be much the worse off because most animal life is left to decompose naturally. I doubt my mouldering naturally will hurt the world either.
Posted by Nimble Spemble 2007-04-19 09:34||   2007-04-19 09:34|| Front Page Top

#8 Come to think of it, so does your breathing, Dr. You CO2 and water vapor pollutant.
Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader  2007-04-19 10:01||   2007-04-19 10:01|| Front Page Top

#9 If cremation is a problem, so is spontaneous human combustion.
Posted by Mike 2007-04-19 11:57||   2007-04-19 11:57|| Front Page Top

#10 Thou shalt have no other gods but the environment, huh?
Posted by Mark E. 2007-04-19 12:26||   2007-04-19 12:26|| Front Page Top

#11 I think my Grandmother was n to something many years ago when she told Mom and Dad to just toss her body in the swamp behind our house. She wanted to save $$, but we didn't do it; i think it had to do with the prevailing winds and our open windows. or something.
On a somewhat serious note, i believe it is the University of Tennesee (one of those southern states)that has a forensic curriculum that has an extensive outdoor labratory of corpses in various stages of decomposition. they stuff the stiffs inside old cars and under cardboard and leave out in the open and the student plot the process. one of their biggest problems early on was figuring out how to keep the wild boars away from the lab projects. took rebar and heavy fencing to create an open air tent for the dearly departed.
Posted by USN, Ret. 2007-04-19 15:05||   2007-04-19 15:05|| Front Page Top

#12 #2 'moose: " I wonder if any study has been done on the best combination of insects to decompose a recently deceased human body."

Sure - there's at least one "body farm" in Tennessee, and probably more. (Forensic studies)
Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut  2007-04-19 15:33|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]  2007-04-19 15:33|| Front Page Top

#13 Sorry, #12 - didn't see yours before I commented.
Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut  2007-04-19 15:35|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]  2007-04-19 15:35|| Front Page Top

#14 Surely you mean #11, Barbara dear. Otherwise you're being frighteningly self-referential. ;-)
Posted by trailing wife 2007-04-19 16:47||   2007-04-19 16:47|| Front Page Top

#15 While Professor Short does have a point, I could probably pull a more important theory out of my own ash.
Posted by Zenster">Zenster  2007-04-19 20:47||   2007-04-19 20:47|| Front Page Top

#16 What do I care? I'll be friggin dead. Screw all you living, breathing bastards!
Posted by tu3031 2007-04-19 21:13||   2007-04-19 21:13|| Front Page Top

23:59 gorb
23:58 trailing wife
23:56 Zenster
23:56 JosephMendiola
23:53 Shipman
23:47 RD
23:41 Zenster
23:37 RD
23:36 JosephMendiola
23:34 RD
23:32 RD
23:29 ed
23:26 ed
23:12 ed
23:11 trailing wife
23:07 trailing wife
22:53 Rambler
22:47 Alaska Paul
22:36 Alaska Paul
22:31 Mike Kozlowski
22:26 Penguin
22:22 gorb
22:18 trailing wife
22:03 JosephMendiola









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