I'm having a 'green' burial

from JoeUser Forums

Witnessing other people's wills and POA's over the past week or so has spurred me into making one of my own.  I don't have much to distribute after I'm gone, but there's a section on the will worksheet that allows me to detail what kind of burial I want (if any).  I like it.  I have some somewhat radical ideas about burial, and I've checked the legitimacy and legality of what I want...so far, all systems are go.

I want a 'green' burial.  I want to be put in the earth, either wrapped in a shroud or in a cardboard casket, and I want to be left there to decay.  I want to let mother earth do her thing with me.  I want to come back as a blade of grass, as a flower, as a tree. 

I DON'T want to be embalmed.  There's no reason to pickle me after I'm gone. 

I DON'T want to be viewed.  I don't want people coming by to look at me when I'm dead, people who perhaps I didn't care for very much in life coming by to say how good I look ...hello, people, I'M DEAD!!!!! I'm not supposed to look good! 

I also don't want a grave liner.  I see no reason for one.  Nor do I want some fancy metal casket...I don't even want a wooden one.  Use the wood to make a bench; plant a willow tree above my grave, put the bench underneath it, and let people come sit and enjoy my shade.  I want either a plain shroud, or if a casket is a must then I want a cardboard one.

Primitive man figured out pretty early on that the best way to dispose of the deceased is to bury them under the ground.  Not only does it take care of the visual and odor problems, decaying folks make pretty good fertilizer too.  Somwhere down the line, we got into the habit of preserving people.....well, it's not for me.

I can't begin to tell you how tickled I am to be able to have my wishes expressed as part of my last will and testament.  This way there will be no doubt, no question, about what I want to happen to me when my body gives out and sets my soul free.  No arguments, no bickering about "what she would have wanted"...it's all there, in black and white.

If I had the money, I'd bequesth 200 acres or so to be used as a 'burial park'.  A place where people who want to be disposed of in the same manner as I could come and have their last wishes granted.  Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of real estate.

But if I did, you can bet your rear end I would.

misc
6,139 views 20 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
But if I did, you can bet your rear end I would.


before I grew up I always said bury me in the ground face down and sticka marijuana seed up my ass, so I can come back as a potplant. now I am gonna get FLAMED AND SCATTERED,
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
Me personally, I have always said I want to be cremated and my ashes scattered on the sea. I have always thought that as we are 70% water, that is to where I would like to return. Having said this, I really do like the idea of green burials as well. I've always though being embalmed was a pointless exercise and an extravagant expense.

Cheers,

Maso
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top

before I grew up I always said bury me in the ground face down and sticka marijuana seed up my ass, so I can come back as a potplant.

Heheheheh.......that's good....!

I've always though being embalmed was a pointless exercise and an extravagant expense.

Some funeral directors in this country actually tell people that they HAVE to have their loved one's remains embalmed....but they don't.  It's not legally required, as long as the body is refrigerated or buried within 48 hours of death (in most states).  You also don't have to be buried in an established cemetary. You can file a map of your backyard, pay a fee and have yourself a 'family' cemetery.  There are regulations regarding the depth of graves and their proximity to power and water lines, but that's about it.

In this country, people get embalmed, then put in a metal casket, placed in a concrete grave liner (which gets sealed), then have earth put on top of them.  You could literally dig them up 10 years after their death and they won't look too much different than when you 'planted' them....but why?  Why do all that?  Isn't the idea to let people decay?  If it is, why are we doing everything we can to delay that process?

Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
Isn't the idea to let people decay? If it is, why are we doing everything we can to delay that process?


Either decay or burn, baby, burn. Having Celtic blood in me, I'm a big fan of the funeral pyre idea. Actually, the way I'd like to go out has just occured to me. A big funeral pyre, all my family and friends gathered around, using my burning bones to light fireworks. Then they can sit around the embers, get drunk, play some of my songs, sing together and generally have a good time. All while basking in the glow of my fire... Ha, ha, ha, how is that for egotistical?
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top

Ha, ha, ha, how is that for egotistical?


No more so than my wanting to be a tree and have people come sit in my shade....

Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
I've heard of a group that will take your cremains and mix it with cement and such to be dropped into the sea as a replacement base thingy for coral reefs. I think that this is the coolest thing in the world.
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
Zweihander01, I've not heard of it and think it is fantastic. I would love to become part of the Great Barrier Reef, being an Aussie for one, and having been born in Queensland, the home of the Reef.

Cheers,

Maso
Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top
Then they can sit around the embers, get drunk, play some of my songs, sing together and generally have a good time. All while basking in the glow of my fire... Ha, ha, ha, how is that for egotistical?


Have you ever been around a burning (or burnt) body? I doubt your friends and loved ones would be in much of a mood to light fireworks or bask in the glow, with the stench of burning flesh filling the air. This is not to insult your thoughts on a Celtic Burial, but just keep that part in mind. ;~D
Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top


Great thoughts about how you want your earthly remains disposed of. I have always wondered why we waste so much time and money on "preserving" bodies after we're dead. I mean, it's not like we're coming back to claim them or anything. I would think that chemicals and procedures (if any) should be used to increase decomposition, not decrease its rate.

As far as I'm concerned, when I'm dead, Heaven, Hell or Reincarnation, I'm pretty much done with this bag of bones. I too have made my wishes known (both verbally and legally).

My body will be dissected in a "Gross Anatomy" lab. Let someone else learn about the wonders of the human body by running their fingers through mine. My own Gross Anatomy class was one of my favorites. I couldn't get enough of looking at the parts of the human body, up close and personal. Because of that class, I can now proudly say that there isn't a part of the human body (at least on a macro scale), male or female that I haven't seen, held, or cut.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"When I grow up, I want to be a cadaver!" ;~D
Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top
Good post...You have the right idea.
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top

Reply #8 By: ParaTed2k - 1/19/2005 1:45:55 AM
Then they can sit around the embers, get drunk, play some of my songs, sing together and generally have a good time. All while basking in the glow of my fire... Ha, ha, ha, how is that for egotistical?


Have you ever been around a burning (or burnt) body? I doubt your friends and loved ones would be in much of a mood to light fireworks or bask in the glow, with the stench of burning flesh filling the air. This is not to insult your thoughts on a Celtic Burial, but just keep that part in mind. ;~D


Having smelled burning bodies I can tell ya this... it smells like a pig cooking... sorry if this offends anyone, it is the truth tho.
Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top
In the words of Homer (Simpson, that is) "Mmmm, pork..."
Reply #13 from JoeUser Forums Top
I'm planning on being kidnapped and dismembered and stored in a big barrel behind a shed in West Texas.
Reply #14 from JoeUser Forums Top
You're right. I went to the UQ morgue when I was in grade 11 or 12 or biology. The one thing I remembered most apart from the fermaldahide (sp) was that there was a partially cut up leg on a table and I couldn't get over how much it looked like a leg of roast pork. I didn't eat meat for a week. I couldn't look at or smell it. I eventually got over it but the thought stayed with me for ages.

As for what I want I don't think I've ever given it enough serious thought. I think I'd like to be cremated but I want to be scattered over a special place and I haven't thought about where that would be yet. I don't think the botanical gardens people would like it (where I was proposed to) or the heritage listed house/garden (where we got married) and we don't own our own house or garden and the oceans never been a big deal for me so yeah I don't know where my ashes should go.
I do like the tree/bench thing though!
Reply #15 from JoeUser Forums Top
You'll have to keep in mind that this is coming from someone who has buried her father, grandfather, and an uncle, all of whom she was very close to, within the past 5 years.

The funerals that I've been to where there haven't been bodies to see has been very hard for me. I'm very visual, and while seeing a person that I love in a casket is very hard for me, it also helps me over that hill where I say "okay...this person really is dead, and here he is. He's not waking up. He's never going to walk in the house again."

I think the hardest one was my uncle. I think it was probably because his death was very sudden (he was accidentally shot in the head on our family farm while my family was butchering pigs...needless to say...no pork for me anymore!). I saw him in the hospital before they took him to surgery to harvest his organs, and my aunt didn't think that they could do a good enough job fixing his head (the obvious hole is his forehead and the swelling that resulted from the brain injury), so she wanted a closed casket funeral. I'm really glad she didn't. Seeing him helped me process my grief. ANd it was hard for me to know that they weren't going to bury him in our little cemetary not far from our farm.

Lots of states have laws that if you are going to be buried in a public cemetary that you have to have a vault--that cement or metal container that they put the casket in--because if you don't the ground settles. I know the cemetary where my plot is has that rule...I guess I don't know how it works.

But as far as I go...I don't really care, you know? I'm not a big cremation fan myself, but I think frankly I'd rather rot than be preserved like chokecherry jam, you know? I understand that people that I love might need to see my body to process my death, though. And my body isn't me, you know? It's just a shell where I'm housed. That's enough babbling I guess.
Reply #16 from JoeUser Forums Top
death is a pretty icky subject, but the way you described how you wanted your funeral...well, it made seem so peaceful, serene, soo....natural...i liked it=)
Reply #17 from JoeUser Forums Top

I've heard of a group that will take your cremains and mix it with cement and such to be dropped into the sea as a replacement base thingy for coral reefs

I saw those on my travels around the internet yesterday.  They're really very cool....

I have always wondered why we waste so much time and money on "preserving" bodies after we're dead. I mean, it's not like we're coming back to claim them or anythin

Exactly!

 

Good post...You have the right idea.

Thank you!

Having smelled burning bodies I can tell ya this... it smells like a pig cooking... sorry if this offends anyone, it is the truth tho.

Having smelt burning human flesh myself, I can attest that he's right!

I'm planning on being kidnapped and dismembered and stored in a big barrel behind a shed in West Texas.

Errmmm.....ooookay, then!

 

I think I'd like to be cremated but I want to be scattered over a special place and I haven't thought about where that would be yet

At least you have some idea of what you want..

 

Lots of states have laws that if you are going to be buried in a public cemetary that you have to have a vault--that cement or metal container that they put the casket in--because if you don't the ground settles. I know the cemetary where my plot is has that rule...I guess I don't know how it works.

There are no state laws that say you have to have a vault of grave liner.  The individual cemeteries might have rules, but there is no law.  Id D wanted to, he could designate our backyard as a 'cemetary', file with the county, pay a small fee, and we could start burying folks there.  As long as the graves are a certain distance from power and water lines, it's all legal.

the way you described how you wanted your funeral...well, it made seem so peaceful, serene, soo....natural...i liked it=)

Thank you...and death is natural.  American's have a habit of not talking about it, of not dealing with it....when it's all part of life.

I did some legal research yesterday, and as I said I found that what I want to do is all legitimate and legal.  Things might have changed by the time I die, but for now it's all systems go.  So, I'm meeting officially with one of the attroney's I work for next week, and we're drafting my will to reflect my wishes.

Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top
wooo hooo. That is for me baby. I never saw the point in spending thousands of dollars on burial expenses. Stick me in a sack and throw me in the ground. Take the money and have a big party! I'd rather have people having fun then mourning me....
Reply #19 from JoeUser Forums Top

I never saw the point in spending thousands of dollars on burial expenses. Stick me in a sack and throw me in the ground. Take the money and have a big party! I'd rather have people having fun then mourning me....

Me too!  Go on vacation or something, don't waste money on a pretty (god awful) casket that's just going to get buried underground anyway. 

I want to go back to the earth the raised me; that sustained me my whole life.  I want to go back to where I came from and begin the life cycle again.

Reply #20 from JoeUser Forums Top
Errmmm.....ooookay, then!


He he he . . . it was a (lame) joke . . .