This statement came to mind when I recently read in the Edmonton Journal about a group of University of Alberta students who were invited to think out-of-the-box when challenged to develop a way of dealing with the death and burial of a human body. What came out of this session gave us all a peek into the new social value system that has been replacing traditional religious moral values over the past 100 years.
The proposed method that was immediately labelled ‘Green Graves’ appears to have been thought up with the goal of providing the ‘Earth’ with eco-friendly land reclamation and a method of preventing the populous from dying to take up valuable land.
It works in this way.
Your loved one is taken to its final resting place nude, wrapped in a shroud made up of a biodegradable material. Without embalming, it is placed into a container made up of biodegradable materials. Once inside, composting materials are placed into the container over the remains to promote faster decomposition.
The location of the burial is also part of this program. The encased burial package is taken to a location that is in need of reclamation. Locations such as oilsands, toxic industrial lands, and brownsites are chosen. The rapid decomposition of the remains would take only 12-18 years allowing for more bodies to be buried in the same spot. This is purported to have an added benefit of reducing the need for new cemeteries. The composting effect would have the worldly benefit of reclaiming the land, making such locations useful as a public park to be enjoyed within two generations. The public record of the burial would be marked using electronic GPS (Global Positioning Systems). In this way you could locate on Google maps the loved ones gravesite.
My gut reaction to this was one of repulsion. The whole imagery of turning human remains into a composting plot for the benefit of making a park appeared to be offering indignation to a human body. Further, whether you decide to bury a loved one in the traditional sense or even choose cremation, the process is usually handled with the sensitively required to help the surviving family and friends in their bereavement. It is the value placed on the person who has passed on that is reflected on how we deal with the burial rites and the persons remains.
For thousands of years the preparation of the dead has been conducted with great care. The belief in the sacredness of the human body has traditionally found expression in the care taken to prepare the deceased for burial. Further, the human body is so inescapably associated with the person that it is hard to think of a persons remains without associating the personality once alive. Therefore the reverence and care for the body grows out of a reverence and concern for the individual. With this in mind, the thought of treating human remains as a means to an end, such as land reclamation or an eco-friendly compost policy is in my opinion abhorrent.
This reverence for human remains is not just found in Christian tradition. All the major religions including Judaism, Islamism, Hinduism and far east religions such as Taoists to name just a few all hold reverence for the care and handling of human remains. In many rites, just the touching of the deceased by ‘unclean’ persons is an offence. The reverence in part, is a result of the three major religions teaching that ‘mankind’ was made in God’s image.
This ‘green’ procedure as suggested by these students is not really new. I found that a movement is afoot in the USA, and parts of Europe where this practice is seriously being looked at, and may even be currently practiced.
Cynthia Beal the author of “Be a tree, the Natural Burial Guide for Turning Yourself into a Forest” has written on this subject and is involved in her country in what she terms is the ‘Ultimate Back-to-the-land Movement.’
Fringe environmentalists have even suggested that the human remains should be rendered like other dead animals. This method would see the human remains crushed or boiled to separate the fat from the bone. The fat would then be used to make animal feed, wax or glue.
This lack of reverence for the remains of our fellow ‘man’ and how it is prepared suggests that society, as a whole, no longer considers humankind as being special in the grand scheme of things. It evens suggests that the New Age religion of environmentalism sees mankind as a burr on the backside of ‘Mother Earth.’ It could even be suggested that this form of Gaia worshipping falls well within Animism, placing personality traits to the planet earth, where the bodies put into these 'Green Graves' are the final ‘value’ offering to the goddess ‘Gaia.’ Many people who have been indoctrinated into ‘eco-worshipping’ circles do not see that they are actually practicing a religion that has now formalized their burial rites.
In the end, many will see this practice appealing. Public opinion has a way of being swayed in the media of pop culture. I just hope sacred tradition does not get pushed aside by over zealous eco-policy makers.
The proposed method that was immediately labelled ‘Green Graves’ appears to have been thought up with the goal of providing the ‘Earth’ with eco-friendly land reclamation and a method of preventing the populous from dying to take up valuable land.
It works in this way.
Your loved one is taken to its final resting place nude, wrapped in a shroud made up of a biodegradable material. Without embalming, it is placed into a container made up of biodegradable materials. Once inside, composting materials are placed into the container over the remains to promote faster decomposition.
The location of the burial is also part of this program. The encased burial package is taken to a location that is in need of reclamation. Locations such as oilsands, toxic industrial lands, and brownsites are chosen. The rapid decomposition of the remains would take only 12-18 years allowing for more bodies to be buried in the same spot. This is purported to have an added benefit of reducing the need for new cemeteries. The composting effect would have the worldly benefit of reclaiming the land, making such locations useful as a public park to be enjoyed within two generations. The public record of the burial would be marked using electronic GPS (Global Positioning Systems). In this way you could locate on Google maps the loved ones gravesite.
My gut reaction to this was one of repulsion. The whole imagery of turning human remains into a composting plot for the benefit of making a park appeared to be offering indignation to a human body. Further, whether you decide to bury a loved one in the traditional sense or even choose cremation, the process is usually handled with the sensitively required to help the surviving family and friends in their bereavement. It is the value placed on the person who has passed on that is reflected on how we deal with the burial rites and the persons remains.
For thousands of years the preparation of the dead has been conducted with great care. The belief in the sacredness of the human body has traditionally found expression in the care taken to prepare the deceased for burial. Further, the human body is so inescapably associated with the person that it is hard to think of a persons remains without associating the personality once alive. Therefore the reverence and care for the body grows out of a reverence and concern for the individual. With this in mind, the thought of treating human remains as a means to an end, such as land reclamation or an eco-friendly compost policy is in my opinion abhorrent.
This reverence for human remains is not just found in Christian tradition. All the major religions including Judaism, Islamism, Hinduism and far east religions such as Taoists to name just a few all hold reverence for the care and handling of human remains. In many rites, just the touching of the deceased by ‘unclean’ persons is an offence. The reverence in part, is a result of the three major religions teaching that ‘mankind’ was made in God’s image.
This ‘green’ procedure as suggested by these students is not really new. I found that a movement is afoot in the USA, and parts of Europe where this practice is seriously being looked at, and may even be currently practiced.
Cynthia Beal the author of “Be a tree, the Natural Burial Guide for Turning Yourself into a Forest” has written on this subject and is involved in her country in what she terms is the ‘Ultimate Back-to-the-land Movement.’
Fringe environmentalists have even suggested that the human remains should be rendered like other dead animals. This method would see the human remains crushed or boiled to separate the fat from the bone. The fat would then be used to make animal feed, wax or glue.
This lack of reverence for the remains of our fellow ‘man’ and how it is prepared suggests that society, as a whole, no longer considers humankind as being special in the grand scheme of things. It evens suggests that the New Age religion of environmentalism sees mankind as a burr on the backside of ‘Mother Earth.’ It could even be suggested that this form of Gaia worshipping falls well within Animism, placing personality traits to the planet earth, where the bodies put into these 'Green Graves' are the final ‘value’ offering to the goddess ‘Gaia.’ Many people who have been indoctrinated into ‘eco-worshipping’ circles do not see that they are actually practicing a religion that has now formalized their burial rites.
In the end, many will see this practice appealing. Public opinion has a way of being swayed in the media of pop culture. I just hope sacred tradition does not get pushed aside by over zealous eco-policy makers.
1 comment:
At first when I heard about these ecofriendly burials it sounded like something I would want done to me when I die. You know, give back to mother earth? I never considered the sanctity of the burial service. My mother said to me the other day that the funeral and burial is more for the family left behind than the dead. I now have to agree with your position. Thanks for the comment, it gave me something to think about.
Post a Comment