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Swedish green-burial firm to turn frozen corpses in compost
thelocal.se ^ | 04/19/2011 | n/a

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 ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2disgusting4words; morbid; sweden
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1 posted on 04/19/2011 5:49:56 PM PDT by massmike
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To: massmike

It’s peeeeeeeeeeople!

Pretty weird stuff.


2 posted on 04/19/2011 5:51:18 PM PDT by SuzyQue (Remember to think.)
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To: massmike

“Mommy, that squash looks like grandma”.


3 posted on 04/19/2011 5:51:52 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: massmike

4 posted on 04/19/2011 5:53:49 PM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner (Sarah Palin has crossed the Rubicon!)
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To: massmike
Sounds like a sick Redneck joke; ‘You might be a Redneck if your Grandma's grave is not at the cemetery but the County Compost Heap.”
5 posted on 04/19/2011 5:55:01 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?)
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To: massmike

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.


6 posted on 04/19/2011 5:56:37 PM PDT by Sawdring
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To: SandRat

Grandma, is that you?

7 posted on 04/19/2011 5:57:10 PM PDT by massmike (DADT repeal: the Boy Scouts now have tougher membership requirements than the Army!)
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To: massmike

Quiet. Eat your vegetables. ewwwww ... barf ......


8 posted on 04/19/2011 5:59:31 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?)
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To: massmike

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....


9 posted on 04/19/2011 6:02:26 PM PDT by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
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To: massmike
Welcome to obamacare gardens.

Enjoy your stay


10 posted on 04/19/2011 6:04:21 PM PDT by clearcarbon
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To: Sawdring

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.


11 posted on 04/19/2011 6:04:27 PM PDT by Bubba Ho-Tep ("More weight!"--Giles Corey)
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To: massmike

12 posted on 04/19/2011 6:04:38 PM PDT by Califreak (You can't go swimming in a baseball pool)
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To: SuzyQue

This may hurt the Soylent Green supply.


13 posted on 04/19/2011 6:06:55 PM PDT by BipolarBob (I fell asleep during my air traffic controller job interview and still got hired. Cool!)
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To: massmike
Swedish green-burial firm to turn frozen corpses in compost

Follow the logic.


14 posted on 04/19/2011 6:07:43 PM PDT by Talisker (When you find a turtle on top of a fence post, you can be damn sure it didn't get there on its own.)
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To: massmike
Once you get past the eewww! factor, this actually makes quite a bit of sense. I will applaud the result if not the motive.

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)

15 posted on 04/19/2011 6:15:17 PM PDT by LonePalm (Commander and Chef)
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To: massmike

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.


16 posted on 04/19/2011 6:15:21 PM PDT by svcw (Non forgiveness is like holding a hot coal thinking the other person will be blistered)
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To: massmike
Anyone want anymore of grandpa's pistachio nuts?
17 posted on 04/19/2011 6:21:40 PM PDT by Average Al
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To: massmike
This method gained popularity and even earned her an award from the King of Sweden for her business innovation.

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.

18 posted on 04/19/2011 6:23:56 PM PDT by Ken H
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To: SuzyQue
I could swear I read about the Swedish fetish for composting
human corpses about a decade ago.

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...

19 posted on 04/19/2011 6:24:05 PM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: Calvin Locke

“...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.


20 posted on 04/19/2011 6:27:47 PM PDT by SuzyQue (Remember to think.)
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