EXCERPT: [...] U.C.L.A. is the only place in California that liquefies the dead. But after five years and hundreds of bodies processed, Dean Fisher, director of the university’s Donated Body Program, hopes to change that. He has been working with state legislators on a bill allowing funeral homes to use this process, called alkaline hydrolysis. The state Senate has until September 15 to consider the legislation, which has already sailed through California’s lower house with a vote of 71 to 3. “The science says this technology is safe and has environmental benefits,” Fisher says. If California approves the new death rite, it would join a club that includes parts of Canada and several U.S. states: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Wyoming.
But this means of final disposition crosses uncomfortable lines for some....
The sooner the better as far as recycling goes. Ummm...what color is it and can it be made into an edible health food bar? (The use of the word 'swirls' conjures up images)
Something icky about liquified corpses as opposed to ashified. But then we're 70% water. Why WOULDN'T we include all that water that gets evaporated in the cremation process?
An interesting article and the main concern would be the quality and quantity of liquid remains and how it gets disposed of. As far as a 'yuck' factor, given sufficient time, the body decomposes and becomes fodder for soil organisms unless one is buried in permafrost or mummified and entombed.
It may be more of the psychological need of our species to visit a final resting place, our inability to detach emotionally from our past, that is off-putting for many.
For myself, I find it morbid that people want to keep human and pet ashes in urns and place plaques, crosses and other monuments in various locations. We are all only temporary tenants of this venue and we should quit leaving it cluttered for succeeding generations. Live, enjoy and then get recycled into the system that enables the whole experience. We should celebrate the experience of life rather than keep looking up the back-trail save to learn from our mistakes. Just my opinion...
thousands of years of cultural psycho-social association of fire being a core element.
people liking of the concept of being turned into fire has probable genetic pre-dispositional-association.
controlled incineration Vs outdoor bonefires is quite a difference.
it sounds more like a pop-science head-liner concept.
why not ask india to change its cultural tradition to build & use purpose built furnaces ?
how many people do they burn in open air fires every day in india compared to controlled high temperature purpose built incinerators in the west ?
a better use of the media would be asking india to build high temperature furnaces run by the state for free use so all the poor people can afford to have their loved ones inccinerated.
Quote:Fifty to 60 million trees are burned during cremations every year in India, according to Mokshda, a Delhi-based NGO working to reduce the environmental impact of funeral pyres
150,000 trees burnt in open air fires every day of the year for the sole purpose of cremation.
(Sep 14, 2017 01:59 PM)elte Wrote: Maybe some people could opt for solar energy, maybe from mirrors.
unless you are an american voter, in which case you opt to destroy the world by burning coal as fast as possible.
because that is the most technalogically advanced country in the world.
im wondering where all the smart people went. must have immigrated out of the USA.
maybe.. that is the problem. maybe they dont have any smart people left to run anything sciencey so they just turn the country in to Mordor
C CSep 15, 2017 03:51 PM (This post was last modified: Sep 15, 2017 03:54 PM by C C.)
(Sep 14, 2017 09:16 PM)RainbowUnicorn Wrote:
(Sep 14, 2017 01:59 PM)elte Wrote: Maybe some people could opt for solar energy, maybe from mirrors.
unless you are an american voter, in which case you opt to destroy the world by burning coal as fast as possible. because that is the most technalogically advanced country in the world. im wondering where all the smart people went. must have immigrated out of the USA. maybe.. that is the problem. maybe they dont have any smart people left to run anything sciencey so they just turn the country in to Mordor
Even in 2017, China consumes more coal than all other countries combined. Distantly after China is India(2) and the US(3) followed by Japan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Germany, Indonesia, Poland, Australia, Taiwan, Turkey, Kazahstan, and the Ukraine.
Despite being third, the US ironically ranks 8th on the list of lowest air polluters, partly via introduction of chemically cleaner or less toxic coal energy plants (air-wise). According to one map, the planet's most severe air pollution is in the Middle East / India. The US, however, is of 8th ranking in highest carbon dioxide emissions (i.e., still "toxic" in terms of greenhouse effect).
Another (actually unsurprising) incongruity is that after China and India, the US has made the most contributions to renewable energy sources.
In 2015, the top coal producers (not consumers) were China, the US, India, Australia, Indonesia, Russia, South Africa, Germany, Poland, and Kazakhstan.
According to Xizhou Zhou, an energy analyst in Beijing, "Coal consumption will continue to increase, mainly driven by Asian countries. We’re seeing a recovery starting this year and an increase until the mid-2020s before you see coal plateau globally.” New coal plants are being built in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Pakistan (among many others).
India’s coal usage increases due to plans / vows to bring toilets and electricity to the entire country.
According to industry experts, Trump rather impotently only contributed in a minor way to the resurgence of coal in the US. Echoing the Chinese gurus, the rise in coal mining and exports is again largely attributed to the demands from an ever-growing Asia and changes of policies in energy markets that were already taking place in the US and the applicable countries (to accommodate the outcry of their energy needs).
Sep 8, 2017 02:53 AM
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