Where does your body go after death

[Caveman Jim]

All I know is the traditional burial method is outdated and taking up valuable real estate in an increasingly populated world.
Alternatives like body composting, natural burials (no caskets or embalming), cremation, aquamation (water cremation), and the old burial at sea need to be all common place.
I would think the old burial at sea would be one of the cheapest and most environmentally safe ways of body disposal. The ocean depths and critters will take care of the body to nothing in no time at all.

In the Bering sea depths you would probably not last more than a half hour, crabs got to eat.

 

[Koda]

In the Bering sea depths you would probably not last more than a half hour, crabs got to eat.

I would guess that in any ocean the body wouldn't last more than a couple days, even less in more specific locations rich in marine life. I'm not certain about the bones, but not certain it matters if we litter the ocean floor with millions of bones. I would guess eventually those would dissolve from the water as well at some point.

 

[Yarome]

I would guess that in any ocean the body wouldn't last more than a couple days, even less in more specific locations rich in marine life. I'm not certain about the bones, but not certain it matters if we litter the ocean floor with millions of bones. I would guess eventually those would dissolve from the water as well at some point.

Under typical conditions any human tissue will be gone in 3-4 days. Under poor conditions... 1-2 weeks. At pressure and the chemical makeup of the ocean at depth... some bones might sink into the seabed but mainly fully dissolved in less than a year.

Heck... it only takes about 18 months for the ocean to fully reclaim a 30-40ton whale.

Easy peasy!

 

[Alexx1401]

Under typical conditions any human tissue will be gone in 3-4 days. Under poor conditions... 1-2 weeks. At pressure and the chemical makeup of the ocean at depth... some bones might sink into the seabed but mainly fully dissolved in less than a year.

Heck... it only takes about 18 months for the ocean to fully reclaim a 30-40ton whale.

Easy peasy!

If they would let us do this easily that would be a great way to handle this. Just dump bodies at sea. We spend a LOT of money burning the hordes of people who die from drugs now. Really would make FAR more sense to just send out a boat once a month or so and dump them in the ocean. They would feed marine life so for many of them it would be the first time ever they contributed anything.

 

[Koda]

If they would let us do this easily that would be a great way to handle this. Just dump bodies at sea. We spend a LOT of money burning the hordes of people who die from drugs now. Really would make FAR more sense to just send out a boat once a month or so and dump them in the ocean. They would feed marine life so for many of them it would be the first time ever they contributed anything.

No doubt society will over complicate this simple idea. California would probably require a cancer warning label on the body lol.

 

[teflon6string]

Me: "When I die I want my remains scattered from the Skyliner at Disneyland."

Mrs. Teflon: "Oh, so you want to be cremated."

Me: "No, I didn't say that."

 

[The Heretic]

I would think the old burial at sea would be one of the cheapest and most environmentally safe ways of body disposal. The ocean depths and critters will take care of the body to nothing in no time at all.

I know from personal experience (USCG) that dead organisms in the sea, including humans, do get recycled by living organisms consuming them.

Not sure that this is a good way to dispose of humans though.

Consider the fact that humans consume a lot of fish, crustaceans, and other food from the sea. If sea burial became the primary means of disposing of human bodies, I think there would be some unintended and unsatisfactory consequences.

As it is, bad stuff is showing up in fish/etc. now.

 

[CamoDeafie]

I know from personal experience (USCG) that dead organisms in the sea, including humans, do get recycled by living organisms consuming them.

Not sure that this is a good way to dispose of humans though.

Consider the fact that humans consume a lot of fish, crustaceans, and other food from the sea. If sea burial became the primary means of disposing of human bodies, I think there would be some unintended and unsatisfactory consequences.

As it is, bad stuff is showing up in fish/etc. now.

This is true. Even more true if there's a lot of drug residue on the dead bodies. And then there's all the hormones dumped into water supplies by accident or purposefully..

 

[Koda]

We pollute the ocean with garbage and plastics and microplastics on magnitudes much greater than all our deceased would.

 

[CamoDeafie]

We pollute the ocean with garbage and plastics and microplastics on magnitudes much greater than all our deceased would.

Yea, how much of that came from our deceased population's garbage "estates"?

 

[Koda]

Yea, how much of that came from our deceased population's garbage "estates"?

All of it. From all of us. We are all killing the planet technically.
Im just saying feeding the fish our deceased pales in comparison to the toxic garbage we pollute the Earth with.

 

[The Heretic]

All of it. From all of us. We are all killing the planet technically.
Im just saying feeding the fish our deceased pales in comparison to the toxic garbage we pollute the Earth with.

Probably.
But it doesn't do the ocean life any good to dump more pollution into it, especially if it enters the food chain.
I love Dungeness crab, but I know they are scavengers of dead animal carcasses, including humans.

 

[Koda]

Probably.
But it doesn't do the ocean life any good to dump more pollution into it, especially if it enters the food chain.
I love Dungeness crab, but I know they are scavengers of dead animal carcasses, including humans.

Burial at sea would be very environmentally efficient but to be honest in favor of your argument the idea of mass burials at sea would have to have an impact on the marine environment. Maybe we could spread things out a bit or only allow burials way way out at sea where fisheries dont harvest.

 

[Alexx1401]

We pollute the ocean with garbage and plastics and microplastics on magnitudes much greater than all our deceased would.

I did have to laugh at that too. That the bodies of humans are going to damage the ecosystem of the ocean. Countries like China and most of the 3d world use the ocean as an open sewer for so much toxic crap it is far above what every human on earth could come close to if all dumped on the same day.

 

[Koda]

I did have to laugh at that too. That the bodies of humans are going to damage the ecosystem of the ocean. Countries like China and most of the 3d world use the ocean as an open sewer for so much toxic crap it is far above what every human on earth could come close to if all dumped on the same day.

I tend to agree with that.
If the world all switched to burials at sea Im sure there would be an environmental impact, but we humans pollute the water on magnitudes greater than anything else. Everything flows to the sea.

 

[jbett98]

The Galveston Texas hurricane in 1900 killed over 10,000 people. Somebody came up with a solution of what to do with some of the dead bodies.
Haul them out to sea and dump them. Over 700 bodies were dumped, but the tide washed most of them back to shore.
By far the worst US natural disaster to date.

 

[Kcee]

I looked after my folks before they passed away, and they had prepaid their cremation costs, and were put in a Veteran's Cemetery. I didn't even contact the mortuary, they just showed up for their bodies after the paramedics and police. I still wonder who contacted who, and how they ended up in the right mortuary. Both of them had "Do Not Resuscitate" forms signed by their doctors.

Being I studied law, I know how important paperwork is.

I've considered doing a prepay cremation.

 

[albin25]

Also worth considering…

Most universities with medical faculties have body donation programs. After your remains are used, free cremation is provided and ashes are returned to the family or buried by the school (WSU has such a program)
Or…
There are also 8 universities that have "body farm" research programs (ever wonder where CSI gets their info?). Texas State has the Nation's largest. Your remains are placed in various controlled situations to study long term decomp/weathering/predation/etc …..

 

[Lilhigbee]

For those whose curiosity has been piqued there is a book called Stiff; The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach that you might find enlightening. She talks about the uses donated bodies are put to. You may not end up where you expected!! It is a good read even if a bit gruesome at times.

 

[Knobgoblin]