Posted on 07/09/2010 10:41:14 AM PDT by massmike
It could hardly be said to be the most dignified of send-offs.
Undertakers in Belgium plan to eschew traditional burials and cremations and start dissolving corpses instead. The move is intended to tackle a lack of burial space and environmental concerns as 573lbs of carbon dioxide are released by each cremated corpse.
Members of the EU Commission must rule on the Belgian proposal as there are concerns that residual waste could be flushed into the drainage system.
In resomation the body is placed in a silk bag, itself placed within a metal cage frame. This is then loaded into a Resomator. The machine is filled with a mixture of water and potassium hydroxide. The end result is a small quantity of green-brown tinted liquid containing amino acids, peptides, sugars and salts and soft, porous white bone remains which are easily crushed. The white ash can then be returned to the next of kin of the deceased. The liquid can be recycled back to the ecosystem by being applied to a memorial garden or forest or simply put into the sewerage system.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The white ash can then be returned to the next of kin of the deceased.....as an edible pill.
Grandma: Not just for (cooking) breakfast anymore.
Guess what? The bodies don't spontaneously combust! Nor are they especially flammable. Rather, the crematoria have to expend a lot of carbon-rich fuel to burn up the bodies. The resultant carbon dioxide is then released into the atmosphere.
Regards,
Well, Belgium isn't exactly known for its wealth of old Indian burial grounds.
Poltergeist, anyone?
Regards,
This is just creepy to me. Flushed, for one, disrespectful, and second, the chemicals, in our water systems. Does anyone else see a potential problem on the horizon here? Don’t we already have tons of things like birth control pills, pesticides, hormones, etc... going down there already and causing problems? We CANNOT live without water, and there is only so much of it, we don’t need to pollute it more. It’s just a bad idea, I think.
Maybe so, but not 573 lbs.
Soylent Green?
And before anybody takes a cheap shot at me for nitpicking, ask yourself first how long civilization will survive if nobody, literally nobody, thinks of such things.
It'll be back to the plow for all of ya.
my momma didn’t raise me to be no ChemLawn
This is just wrong on so many levels.
Do these morons have any clue how much energy is consumed manufacturing the Potassium Hydroxide (or Sodium Hydroxide) that they are planning to use?
When the nit wit in the White House jumps on board with this, we’ll just call it ZERO WATER.
Carbon has a molecular weight of 12 grams. O2 has a molecular weight of 32 grams. Carbon dioxide thus has a molecular weight of 44 grams (12 g of C + 32 g of O2 = 44 g). 573 lbs (260 kg) of CO2 is thus equivalent to 5906 mols (260 kg / 0.044 kg). 70.9 kg of carbon (12 g/mol * 5906 mol) and 189 kg of O2 (32 g/mol *5906 mol) combine to form 260 kg of CO2.
We can thus conclude that the Belgian estimate is based upon the assumption that, during the cremation process, roughly 70.9 kg of carbon goes up in flames. The body of a 100-kg man (like myself) contains approx. 18 kg of carbon. So we must assume that roughly 53 kg of carbon from other sources, including the deceased person's burial clothing, cerements (grave-clothes and shroud), the wooden coffin - but also supplemental fuel to initiate combustion and to keep the fires stoked - are likewise consumed in the process.
In short, about only about one-quarter of the carbon dioxide emissions can be attributed directly to the human body, and the remaining three-quarters from "other sources."
In view of these considerations, it thus appears that the Belgian estimate is actually a rather conservative figure!
Regards,
Can’t believe I’m first with this:
“Crappy idea..”
Nothing more.
They are cloaking this in green weenie terms to make it more palatable for the average idiot to consume, but this is meant to desensitize, period.
I think they barbecue all ten of 'em. Could be wrong.
Some sewage gets cleaned and recirculated as water to use...any one have a problem with taking a shower using grandma to lather up and wash up with...
Geeze, I wonder how someone that weights only about 150 pounds release over 500 pounds in carbon dioxide
An example of the truly absurd limits that idiots are willing to take an absurd agenda - CO2.
Wow this just gave some criminals ideas.
They felt the needed to come up with a really big number.
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