New 'Green' Burial Sites Use GPS To Locate Graves
New 'Green' Burial Sites Use GPS To Locate Graves
And they say boomers are afraid of technology! A plan in Australia laughs in the face of that stereotype and may revolutionize how we face our maker, so to speak.
Ground was broken this week at the Bunurong Memorial Park -- a large cemetery near Dandenong, Australia -- that in a year expects to host what are known as forest or woodland burials. The deceased's body is covered in a shroud or light covering, sans a coffin, and with no headstone to mark the burial spot. Instead, after nature does what nature does, families of those buried in the red gum trees will in time be able to track the body by using a dime-size GPS tracker encased in a plastic capsule and attached to the burial shroud. As the shroud and body decompose, the tracker remains in the ground and visitors can find the burial site through an app on a mobile phone or other device, according to the Canberra Times . The cemetery did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Burials such as this are seen as an environmentally friendlier option than being embalmed with chemicals and buried in a heavy coffin. The green burial movement has picked up steam in the U.S. as well as in other countries. "We don't need to pickle people," Larry Hurst of Southwest Portland said of embalming fluid, which he described to Oregon Live as "poison in the ground." And, it's also not necessary to encase bodies in concrete vaults or use the grave liners that many cemeteries insist upon so that the ground doesn't sink over time, he said.
The green burial movement is still small but those involved in the business of death are seeing a steady uptick in interest as people who previously leaned toward cremation are hearing about returning their body to the elements, essentially composting it. The philosophical change is this: while in generations past, the aim was to protect the deceased from the elements of nature, now more people are happier for their remains to be returned to the Earth sooner.
Without question, boomers are changing death just like they changed so many other things before it.
http://thenewstalkers.com/forum/topics/new-green-burial-sites-use-gps-to-locate-graves/edit
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Well, I'm all for this, but they don't use concrete burial vaults to keep graves from sinking, they use them to keep the groundwater out. Years ago, in KY, they found that the groundwater was contaminated with formaldehyde, so KY began to require cement burial vaults-- which, by the way, sink in anyway. Now, they don't use formaldehyde any more, but other chemicals that are supposed to be less nasty. But the groundwater can get contaminated from just plain old bodies, too. During WWII, the high volume of bodies in Europe being buried without coffins, etc. contaminated wells and many people, who were also shy of food, died of ailments caused by contaminated groundwater.
Can't win for losing, can one?
Another reason they require concrete burial vaults here in KY was the 1937 flood. The water table rose so high, it popped coffins up out of the ground, except for those who were buried in cement vaults. It was awful for everyone!
Personally, I have a fear of cremation-- since I tripped over someone at the cemetery and scattered them to the 4 winds. Grandpa was frantically trying to gather them up and stuff them back into their urn... It wasn't a pleasant day. Now, I hope I can become a fossil. Bury me at the foot of a hill, so I'm deposited upon.
Where'd you dig this one up?
since I tripped over someone at the cemetery and scattered them to the 4 winds. Grandpa was frantically trying to gather them up and stuff them back into their urn... It wasn't a pleasant day.
OH NO!!! That must have been one of the worst days of your life!!
I can't imagine someone just putting an urn on a headstone, you know? Just right for a little girl to trip over!
It was awful and we both felt badly about it!
I'm sure you both did!!
Where'd you dig this one up? An underground newspaper...
Fully UNDERstand.
For a while, I deemed it BENEATH YOU but have decided to bury the hatchet.
Now you're milking this.
Utter-ly bad form.
You do know , that grave diggers are overweight due to their cemetery life style.
That's because they don't want anything to INTERfere with their food preferences.
And I can DIG that.
They really need to get moar exercise so they don't wind up6 feet under.
(excuse the spelling, I had a bad Coffin attack)
I wonder if undertaker couples have his and hearse towels.
OMG! Mac, you're killing me!!
I just thought, it surely would be nice to have this... I mean so many of the old graves are gone, and that's a shame, really.
I wish I could find some of my family's graves. I remember where they were, but everything has changed and grown over to the point I can't find them, anymore...
That's a shame! Aren't the Grounds Crew supposed to take care of that?