Posted on 04/19/2011 5:49:53 PM PDT by massmike
The phrase ashes to ashes, dust to dust has long been connected with burial services, having originated from the 17th century Book of Common Prayer.
But the idea of actually returning to the earth in an ecological manner that nourishes the soil is one that Swedish scientist Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak has sought to near-fruition across the span of a decade.
Terming the process promession, Wiigh-Mäsak has worked tirelessly to bring this 100 percent ecological burial alternative to the wider world.
Promession reshapes, dries and allows the body to be cared for by the soil. It offers a very natural connection with nature and a more appealing way to consider death.
Having a near life-long affection for protecting the planet, the 54-year-old ecologist and biologist worked in a chemical plant for 15 years with the ambition of affecting change from the inside.
Taking it upon herself, she developed a way to construct compost how nature intended and describes it as clean and effective. This method gained popularity and even earned her an award from the King of Sweden for her business innovation.
Later I got to thinking we are almost seven billion people on the planet and in the next one hundred years we will all die everyone will either rot or burn and I did not find that acceptable, she recalls.
I decided that when I die, I would like to be composted and I kept thinking about how it could be done the way nature intended to return to the same system from which we originated.
(Excerpt) Read more at thelocal.se ...
It’s peeeeeeeeeeople!
Pretty weird stuff.
“Mommy, that squash looks like grandma”.
Anything is better than being embalmed, painted and Bondoed, put in a fiberglass casket with a plastic drip pan underneath. Composting might be a great way to go.
Grandma, is that you?
Quiet. Eat your vegetables. ewwwww ... barf ......
My organic gardening friends would have a (free range) cow at the barest hint of meat or meat by-products anywhere near their compost pile....
Exactly. I kinda like the idea of the “green burial,” although even this, being dunked in liquid nitrogen and then mulched, seems too complicated. I want to be wrapped in a shroud and dropped in a hole. Under a tree would be good. And that’s it. No embalming, no box, nothing.
This may hurt the Soylent Green supply.
Follow the logic.
When looked at from a historical perspective, this is a major step up. Until very recently, people were generally buried in a shroud and the grave was recycled on a regular basis after the body had decomposed.
I will point you to the gravedigger scene in Hamlet from which we get the memorable phrase, "Alas, poor Yorick!"
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Hum? My husband will be happy. He is always telling me to wrap him in a grass mat, and toss him out in the woods. I always reply, I am not spending the money on the mat.
She had a dream about the King of Sweden.
He gave her things that she was needin'.
He built her a house made of gold and steel.
A diamond car with platinum wheels.
Not surprised that they are still looking for the initial location, it
being Sweden and the EU, after all.
As for it being "environmentally friendly", freezing, dunking in LN2,
and finally zapping with ultrasonics, does seem to be a very
energy intensive process.
Wouldn't a pit, some solar heating, worms, maggots, and a dash of
enzymes accomplish the same thing?
Better yet, a trebuchet, and an active volcano...
“...and an active volcano...”
But, that would sort of defeat the purpose of compost.
I plan on being cremated. Just to spite anyone who wants to sprinkle me on the carrots and radishes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.