Is anyone else an atheist with BC besides me?
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Jewish funeral custom is a perfect example of a "green" one.
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Oh my! Thanks for the eye candy! YUM!! (I actually saved that photo to my desktop!)
I didn't realize cremation was environmentally unfriendly. I'll have to look more into it. Elizabeth, any websites you could recommend? I suppose if we weren't filled with embalming fluid, our bodies wouldn't be any more toxic than that of a deer. (In my case, maybe TWO deer! Or maybe a young moose) LOL
--CindyMN
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Chumfry -- you just reminded me to add "do not embalm" to my disposal directive. And I guess we'll have to look into the cremation problem. Is it the fiery furnace smoke that makes it environmentally unfriendly?
Bren -- your idea of a rose garden is such a good one -- roses love bonemeal. (Gosh, this thread has taken a rather morbid turn -- maybe we should get back to puppies and kittens and photos of beautiful animals and big birds)
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I love the green burial information. I had not ever considered that and I think that's the way I want mine handled! Will have to do some research.
On the bird topic, we don't have any geese, but we have a pair of ducks who have adopted our property as their home base. We first noticed the male and female hanging out in our koi pond, then our lotus pond (no fish, just lotus plants), and then our pool.
My husband thought it was cute until he had to clean all the duck poop out of the pool. Plus I don't want the ducks to eat my koi! I can't find any confirmation that they eat fish, but I don't want to take the chance.
At any rate, sure enough, before we could figure out a way to keep them out, I discovered Momma's "nest" in my daylillies that surround my mailbox in the front! She lays about an egg a day, or every other day. Now that there are eggs, I don't want to disturb them!
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Lots of the stuff that funeral directors tell people they must do are NOT required by state or federal law in the US but are simply a way to jack up the cost. I also didn't know that cremation was unfriendly---can you provide details?
What about burial at sea? That, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't involve any sort of coffin.
I am inclined towards donating myself to medical research. I did some research and if I can manage to die cancer free, my organs can still be used for donations and implants but even if they can't use me, perhaps it would give a clue on a cure, right?
We have lots of geese here in the NW. When I see them, I think of Christmas dinner. I pay an ungodly amount each year for a goose to roost and yet, if I go down to the park, there are TONS of Canadian geese. And everyone hates them because they poop all over, and the poop is like concrete and yes, they will go after you. Last year, a farmer friend suggested I just wander down to the lake with a bag of wonderbread and a gym bag. . . . hmmmmmmmm
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3monstmama, both my grandparents donated their bodies to medical research. When my grandmother was dying, a very nice hospice social worker/counselor asked her, "What do you think will happen to you after you die?" The intent, I suppose, was to open a discussion of spirtual concerns. Imagine their surprise when my grandmother matter-of-factly announced "They're going to cut me up into pieces." My mother had to intervene to explain about the whole medical donation thing.
Linda
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I was horrified to learn that:
"...according to an article published in the Vancouver Sun 180 litres of gasoline is used to stoke the fires for every corpse that goes up in smoke and chemicals like carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and persistent organic pollutants are released into the air that we, the living, breathe." from http://www.naturalburial.coop/2009/04/16/pushing-daisies-death-goes-green/#more-602
Here's their find-a-cemetery page: http://www.naturalburial.coop/find-a-green-cemetery/ (has .Ccdn, US, and UK resources)
Canadian site: http://www.naturalburialassoc.ca/
Just google "natual burial" and you'll find stuff - I just bookmarked canuck stuff.
I emailed an association in Ottawa and now they've asked me to join a committee! Maybe a new hobby to go along with bird watching. Green burial and ghouls!
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Okay, while I was checking my few rose bushes to see if those dratted Japanese beetles had returned (answer: not yet) I was thinking of Bren and her rose garden. With apologies in advance if this offends anyone here, I came up with (tongue firmly planted in cheek
) an epitaph for anyone who considers doing the same thing:"Here lies __________. Her life may have been no bed of roses. Her death, on the other hand...!"
Hugs, Linda
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Geez - I had NO clue about green funerals until now! Great information to know. I planned on donating my body to a medical organization up in Phoenix, but they cremate after they are done. I may have to re-think or stipulate what I want done with my remains when they are done.
The donation place doesn't care about cancer, but you can't be too fat. Weeelll, that may be a problem because I gained some lovely weight with chemo so I may just have to go the green route and forget those medical people who don't appreciate "thick" girls...LOL!!!!
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Linda .. bwaahahaha! I laughed right out loud! Great verse!
Chainsaw .. you can come with me in my rose garden! I'm a "thick" girl now too (problem with chocolate). Mr. Tim will just have to make room for a couple of thick girls!
I can't believe a body donation place would be so picky.
hugs all round,
Bren
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ELIZABETH!! WOOHOO!! So nice to "see" you
Wait till I tell you what I did! It was my one year anniversary, so non~drinking me got drunk....drunk me got a tattoo....of a cat.....on my......well....cat! She is cute, but, sometimes I wonder what people will think when I do die....I mean besides the obvious "This chick was nuts."Mercury is another issue with cremation, from our fillings...it is bad for the air too....
I never understood why we save dead people....even as a child I'd see huge graveyards filled with hundreds & thousands of 100 & 200 year old graves....now we have buildings & we stack them up? What are we saving them for?
Every time I go to my mother's house....first thing out of her mouth "Go say "hello" to your father". Really, mom? You know he is not in that box on your dresser right? But I do, I walk in, pat the box & say "Hi, Daddy". I have my poor old dog on my dresser...my son has his dog on his dresser...well, their ashes....that was a respect thing....just so much love, throwing them in a dumpster like garbage seemed unimaginable.
I believe in souls, or spirits...I've seen them....so, I know we aren't in our bodies after we die...I honestly do not care what they do with me. I do not want put in a box....in the dark....small dark places....ewwww. Which is completely odd, considering I know I won't be there.
I know that organ donation is a no-no....the anti-rejection drugs they would have to take would allow even one cancer cell to grow...so, I wouldn't risk that. Green is definitely the way to go. Hopefully, I will hang around for a few more years or decades & by then....everything will be green or gone. No choices for anyone to make.
Sorry for the long post, I work 9pm-7am & I had a bunch to say....OH! I brought a stray cat home from work....a tiny Siamese...meaner than an old wet hen....had her about 3 weeks now...guess what? PREGNANT! Better here than on the street, she is safe & no longer hungry & hopefully I will find fantastic homes for her babies. Then, she will be spayed & grow old & fat in my lap
Love you all, D.
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Anyone watch Soylent Green? hehe
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Ewwww -- I just read the plot outline. Well, I suppose it is recycling...
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Sorry, girls, but the sun is finally shining and I am just not willing to talk about funerals. But have had it.
In the mean time, I'll entertain myself by drooling over Mr. Downey.
Carry on!
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Sorry, Madalyn. Rain is expected tomorrow and Saturday.
Ugh.
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I loved Avatar!
But I don't recommend seeing it in 3D. Seeing it in digital on a big screen is awesome, but the 3D was a little wonky and I got naseous and motion sick. Plus, no matter how well they do it, there are always "artifacts" during scenes where there is a lot of action and movement. The 3D just cannot keep up with fast movement.
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Yes, I am. Though I waiver between atheist and agnostic. Relatively newly diagnosed as well. I've been struggling with this, as evidence points to certain healing properties of "faith". And yet I can't really muster any, in the religious sense. I do think, though, that similar benefits can be had wtih meditation and self hypnosis. I like Belleruth Naperstek's tapes.
How are you doing with this?
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I just came home from a unbearably long church funeral for a friend of mine...it lasted over two and a half hours...how I wish it had been a "celebration" of her life instead..she was a neat lady..she had been diagnosed three months ago with stage 4 pancreatic cancer...it took her life very rapidly...
Peace...
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Avatar.
I saw this a few weeks ago, without 3D, in a theatre. I find some of these 'enhanced' movies, too 'busy.' When watched on a big screen there is so much going on that you have to watch the forest, not the trees. I noticed this with the Robin Williams 'Captain Hook' years ago. We sat about midway in the theatre and I nearly got whiplash from jerking my head from side to side trying to see all the details in the background let alone the action of the main characters. I deliberately sat in the back row for Avatar and still got the same result. I started watching the clock about an hour before the end.
Ashes to . . . .
I threatened my boys that I would have my ashes mixed with clay and made into plant pots. I would have open-fingered hands sculpted on the outside pointing toward the top and then .................. wait for it....................................... daisies planted in them.
They can honestly say then, that their mother is pushing up daisies!
Sheila.
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Sheila.....you had me laughing out loud at that one. Such a sick sense of humor - I love it!
My daughter wants to have me cremated and then either made into jewelry or put into a container that's part of a necklace pendant or something. Since you can't fit all of the ashes into those things, how would you choose? What if the ashes you chose to include in the jewelry were actually butt ashes? Would you be happy to have your mother's butt ashes hanging around your neck?? I would not. What do you do with the rest? I'd rather not be part of a landfill, not even bundled inside a biodegradeable plastic trash bag.
My idea was to start a cemetery where everyone was buried vertically. You can get more burials per acre that way! And when Jesus comes back, you're already in launch position! (Oops...was that sacrilegious?? No offense meant!)
Speaking of things biodegradeable, and those not, have you seen the latest from Rand Paul? He's saying that it's un-American to criticize BP for the oil spill because sometimes...."accidents just happen." Especially if you're negligent, I guess.
E
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okay well if you were still looking for a reason NOT to vote for Rand Paul, how about the fact that the "B" in BP stands for British as in its a British Company.........................scratching my head over how critcizing BP could be unamerican.....
You couldn't have just "butt" ashes in the jewelary--its all mixed together.
I like the idea of making planters. . . .
If I can't be donated, then I vote for cremation where the energy from the burning goes to electricity or something. or maybe just back to being fish food.
Re donation---the american red cross says on its website if you are some amount of years cancer free AND die from something, then you can have your organs donated.
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I guess it's the whole capitalism thing. Big business is always right.
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RE~RE~Organ donation. I never said you couldn't. I said I wouldn't. Just because they haven't found a few cancer cells & you die, doesn't mean they are not there. There are documented cases of people dying from cancer the got from transplanted bones & other various body parts. This is just my choice, feel free to do as you like.
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I wouldn't feel right about it either, DawnRenee. I wouldn't give blood even if I weren't stage IV because "they" don't know everything, and the risk is just too great. It's nice to know that there are options for those that do feel comfortable with it, though, so thanks for posting the info, mama!
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Sorry for all of you in the grips of weather. Sunny here at the moment, which is a good thing for us since my daughter and I are doing the Relay for Life thingy. Did you know that you need a tent for that?? Guess we'll be buying one today since it starts at 6 tonight. No point in waiting until the last minute.
Hope you all get some sun this weekend!
E
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I'm gonna gripe about the weather. HUMID!
I'd like to be cremated and have my remains mixed with clay to make a statue of myself. Then Tim can take me everywhere he goes .. and irritate the heck out of his next wife. If there's enough clay and stuff leftover, they can make small statuetes for all the relatives! bwahahahaha! I envision little shrines in everyone's home!
Seriously, just put me under the roses and let me get back to my first love ...
I saw Rand Paul on the news yesterday. He strikes me as a bit of a numb nuts. Isn't he the first candidate the tea party is claiming as theirs?
Happy Friday all,
love
Bren
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Weather's beautiful here in Niagara -- but -- I think we're in for some of your rain Madalyn.
Not to belabour any point about Dr. Paul, but someone who is such a devotee of Ayn Rand that he changed his first name in her honour really leaves me wondering. Didn't we all read her books as teenagers, and didn't we all do a reality check? Guess he didn't/doesn't.......
The gulf oil spill just leaves me flabbergasted and the pundits and oil spokespeople who keep downgrading it leave me disgusted. And yes, BP is a British company and all North Americans should be furious with it -- as well as with Transocean and Halliburton. Same with the coal companies who continue to ignore the safety of their employees.
But Bren -- little statuettes, hahahaha
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Ha! Re. statuettes! My friend's husband's ex used to collect garden gnomes. He still had some at the cottage and one day my friend tripped and fell on one, cracked a rib. So, make pointy hats for the relatives you don't like!
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hhehe Enjoyful, they could bury us with firecrackers up our butts ready for take-off. You're a kook. ROFLMBO! I'm in a good mood now and won't care when everyone stares at my dyskinetic movements at the restaurant tonight. My Ray of sunshine is taking me out for my b/d.
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By the way, at the risk of being morbid, I just finished reading a thread on a non-theists site that talks about secular, humanist or atheist services at funerals! I had never really thought about them before, just as I had never really thought about the natural burial before this thread, but I'm finding it all very interesting and actually feel very warm about the idea that there will be a wonderful and loving celebration of my life as my family and friends say goodbye to me!
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