40 replies to this topic

[btatro]

Count me in, too! Bury me in whatever is cheapest, or burn me up for that matter. I plan to donate as many organs as possible first, and then our bodies are all going to decompose eventually, anyway.

[redstarr]

I want to be cremated. I hate the thought of being preserved just enough to take my body that much longer to dissapear. For me, the cost seems to be such a waste. If I had to be buried, I would go for something like that cardboard coffin. Hate the thought though.

[angeldrb]

I'm actually considering a wood coffin when I die, but I think a cardboard one would be cheaper. I could be cremated too - saves my family from buying a coffin and paying for a spot in the memorial park.

[4leafclover]

Count me in! I would rather opt to be buried with a cardboard coffin, then spoil along with it. At least up until my last moments I did something in return for our Mother Earth! :)

[Grandma Hugme]

I like to follow Nature's plan and feel that Nature knows how to handle death of mammals by having carnivores consume the meat.  But, because mankind does not want their loved ones torn to sheds and eaten, most countries burn the bodies which eliminates the diseases that may result from burying the bodies in wrapped cloth, etc.  Even Native Americans used to place bodies on high platforms to dry out and fade to dust.

As for me, cremate me and let the dust blow in the wind - hopefully over the ocean!  Ashes to ashes, dust to dust...

Grandma Hugme
Search for:  2011WildAnt1109YUM

[aspen]

UmiNoor, on 25 March 2012 - 06:42 PM, said:

I'm a Muslim and in Islam, we're not buried with the coffin. Our bodies are wrapped in a white fabric safe our faces and we're buried with a slab of wood over our body to prevent the soil from covering our face. The coffin that carries our bodies to the grave site will then be re-used.

Brilliant idea.
I heard of an old fella who was wrapped in a red blanket because he was communist, taken to a rural property in the back of a station wagon (estate car) and buried in a sheep paddock.
I had hoped for a similar burial on my property. Now though, because of the effort to get the permission and stress involved for my family,  I've now gone for the no fuss, though high energy usage ending of cremation. After all this discussion here ,I found a box for me the daggiest and cheapest of all the 100% recycled cardboard ones now available locally.
Not quite RIP.

[steph84]

I know what you mean! The cheapest coffins were around $4000 out here in Los Angeles and I thought it was ridiculous! They really do a nice job laying on the guilt and making you feel super cheap about not wanting the works for your dead loved ones. I am just going to be cremated. I don't want to take up space when I pass.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Organ donation. Organ donation. Organ donation.

[MakingCents]

Yes to organ donation, most definitely!

[mariaandrea]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 12 May 2012 - 02:07 AM, said:

Organ donation. Organ donation. Organ donation.

Absolutely. It's one of my "issues." If you voluntarily, for no good medical reason, refuse to donate your organs, you should not be allowed to ever receive organs if you need them. Since I want to be cremated and in my world view what happens to my body after my death means nothing, and my kids think the same way, then use whatever organs you can, and if a medical school wants a few parts, feel free, then burn up whatever is left over.

[j_pin]

A cardboard coffin is a good idea. I've always found it ridiculous that people even want to be burried and that they basic coffins cost $7,000 and up. I personally just want to be cremated. It is the cheapest and I see no reason to leave my decaying body in a box underground.

[FamilyTreeClimber]

I have never understood why we pay much for big, fancy, expensive boxes that are then buried into the ground.  It seems like such a waste of materials and money.  The only time you will see a coffin is if there is at the funeral or memorial.  I guess it makes the bereaved feel better in some way.  A cardboard coffin would be much more eco-friendly.

I like that idea of a rental coffin for funerals, MakingCents.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

FamilyTreeClimber, on 16 May 2012 - 07:56 PM, said:

I have never understood why we pay much for big, fancy, expensive boxes that are then buried into the ground.  It seems like such a waste of materials and money.  The only time you will see a coffin is if there is at the funeral or memorial.  I guess it makes the bereaved feel better in some way.  A cardboard coffin would be much more eco-friendly.

I like that idea of a rental coffin for funerals, MakingCents.

I think it comes from the mindset of "I'm better than you-look what all my money can buy." attitude. Huge
mausoleums and massive headstones.
And what of the headstones?
We mine for them-stripping away at the land, so some &^%$(* can have a slab of it as their grave marker?
Please.
Maybe with the cardboard coffin idea catching on, people are getting away from our disconnect with nature.

[FamilyTreeClimber]

I am a genealogist.  It's always stunning to learn that other countries do things differently, especially when it comes to death rituals.  Some of my ancestors came from the Azores Islands where land is limited.  You get a burial at sea.  They simply don't have the space for burials.

I was shocked when my Dad died two years ago to learn how much a funeral costs.  He was cremated and we still had to buy a box.  That seems so silly to me.  We didn't have a funeral, but a celebration of life a few weeks later.  That box wasn't even for display.

I always feel sad when I think of families who don't have the money, paying for a funeral, coffin, burial, etc.  It really is expensive.

[artistry]

I have said just stick me with a pin and if there is no response, then take me away. Not interested in being buried in the ground with bugs which will do their job as, they are set to do. As long as I am gone, it is now just a dead body, cremate it and scatter the ashes. Thy will be done. Cheers.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Some other methods people are embracing. (Not all of these are eco-friendly, btw.)
Resomation-having their tissues dissolved.
Natural burials-no chemicals, biodegradable coffins.
Eternal reefs-cremated ashes added to reef like structures for fish.
Cryonics-freezing.
Space burial-for the uber rich.
Mummification.
Plastination-your body on display.
Freeze drying.

Links to added information can be found
here.

[artistry]

A lot of people, who love the water are really taking to the eternal reefs. They like the idea of swimming with the fish, literally. I love reefs, but under water doesn't do if for me either. Dissolving tissue, I guess that includes bones as well? Interesting concept. Thanks for all the information.

[MyDigitalpoint]

Time ago I watched on the History Channel a service a service that provides people with plain paper envelope coffins to be sent via airmail to Austria as final place to rest in peace.

Of course, corpses are cremated to deliver the ashes this way.

[ACSAPA]

I'm just going to be a Lifegem. The carbon from my cremated body is going to be turned into a lab created diamond and my daughter is going to wear the diamond made of me as a necklace. Some people do Lifegems with pets or babies that died.

My daughter and I are best friends and she'd rather wear a pendant made from my carbon than keep my ashes in an urn.

[FamilyTreeClimber]

Shortpoet, Plastination?  Wow! Now there's a way to freak out your friends and family.  I remember when my Dad died how I had to turn around all his photos because it seemed like he was staring at me.  It made me more sad to look up his face those first few days.  I cannot imagine what it would be like to have a life sized loved one in my living room.

I looked up Plastination.  There is an institution called "Body Worlds".  I think I'm better off not reading this before bedtime.