Cool ways to dispose of my body? After death of course....?

Question

I hope I'm not going anytime soon but it is something we all must face. I don't want to be in a metal box. I don't want chemicals replacing my blood. I don't want to be burned in an industrial oven. I'd be fine with a pine box in the ground but don't think they let you do that anymore. What other options are there? Legal ones...don't want my family to be in jail just for geting rid of some rotting flesh!! Thanks.

Answer 1

Do a google search on "green burial" - that will give you some info on the types of burials that might interest you. It is legal to be buried "as-is" in a pine box. If I were not donating my body to the medical college, I would be doing just that. My parents are insisting on being buried, so I have been reading up on it.

Talk to a funeral home director and compare notes with what you find on the web. Tell them you are doing a report for school. You will find that they are just as bad as used car salesmen.

Some info that you will find on the web:
- You can make your own casket if you wish. There is no requirement for purchasing an overpriced casket from a funeral home.
- In most states you can even be buried in a cardboard casket. I think they sell them for about $100.
- Unless your body is crossing state lines or burial is delayed, it does not need to be embalmed.
- You don't even need a funeral director, it is possible to plan and carry out a funeral yourself.

If you feel really strongly about this issue, then start researching it and make a written plan that include your exact specifications. You can be as specific as "Get this casket from this dealer".

Answer 2

Charles, I like your idea. For the cycle of earth life to be complete all living things MUST die and go back into the ground to provide nourishment for future growing things. Thats the way it is supposed to be.

However, as you suspect, I don't think that can be done anymore. There is too much money to be made by people who make caskets, vaults and doing the funerals. Therefore, politics come into play.

Actually, I have no suggestions for you. I have a daughter that feels the same as you. She says "Just put me in a pine box, bury me and let me go back from whence I came,." Good luck. Pops

Answer 3

No matter what your body will be handled by someone other than family so chances are you're going to get one of those. If you mean something like being shot into space or cast out to sea, the first costs a lot and you need to be cremated first and you can't do the second due to contamination risk and pollution. Cremation is the best way to go because you're not using up resources and there's no risk of contamination. No matter what way you choose, though, you'll be dead so it won't matter.

Answer 4

Well I am in the same dilemma that you are. I don't want to be buried (because there is not enough graves for all the dead people that have already died in this country but you don't see new grave yards)so I have decided to be cremated but this really worries me because I am a Christian and my family isn't sure it is proper for a Christian to be burned (I guess) but I really don't want all the money that would go to a funeral being spent once I am gone. Oh I have heard of body farms but when I went to research one the site was closed so I am not sure if they exist anymore of course there is science but science has already done enough to my body that they would just be studying their own effects.

Answer 5

A mortuary must provide a plane raw pine box, a handfull of straw for your pillow, and no embalming - SOP for Orthodox Jews.

1) Burial at sea
2) Wood chipper
3) Lyophilization
4) Electroless plating
5) Plastination
6) Plasma torch

Answer 6

You have the right to a green funeral. Embalming is not a legal requirement. Embalming just keeps the bugs away longer than normal. Nothing more.

You can even have an open casket funeral without embalming. The funeral home simply has to keep your body on ice until it's time.

Answer 7

I don't even want a pine box. Just a hole in the ground is fine with me.

Answer 8

I was gonna say the same thing as Jedimast and Patrick, its a good and interesting way to go. If you donat your body they can use it for reaseach and learn from it. And if you want to be original then shoot it up to space like Jedimast said. They are both legal.

Answer 9

Hmm, well thats a tad bit strange. But yeah, it would be cool if you were cremated and shot up into the air like Hunter S. Thompson. Go out with a bang!!

Answer 10

Make arrangements for a very large glass jar and about 20 gallons of formaldehyde. Have your body pickled and donate it to your high school science department for a biological display.