One last passing of gas

I was catching up on back episodes of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's "The Science Show," via podcast, and came across this little nugget: Cremation of the average human body produces 160 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

So folks who choose cremation, thinking it more environmentally friendly than interment in a cemetery, are all wet: The last act of their physical body is to produce 352 pounds of a so-called "greenhouse gas." Whereas, if they were buried, their carbon would be sequestered in the ground.

Some states in Australia are considering banning cremation, on environmental grounds.

I hope, before I kick off, that promession is made legal in Washington. Promession is that method of body disposal I have written about, in which the body is freeze-dried and then shaken into a powder, for interment in a small box made of starch. And then, ideally, a tree is planted where your body powder was buried, to feed off you. Small footprint.

Posted: Mon - July 14, 2008 at 12:55 PM

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One last passing of gas

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