Sharing a Loved One's Cremated Remains

Japanese Culture - The Hone Wake

WikiCommons/Autumn Snake

At her grandmother's funeral in Japan, author Ruth Ozeki explains another Japanese custom called "hone wake" or "dividing the bones, which is often practiced when a person’s family lives in different places." On her return to the US from Japan, she brought with her some bones of her grandmother, which she was to deliver to her mother. The experience inspired her to film a documentary called "Halving the Bones".

In the United States, if would be difficult to honor the true Japanese tradition of the hone wake, as most states require the pulverization of cremated remains after incineration. This process which is what gives cremated remains their ash-like appearances. Like the Japanese tradition, many American families also choose to share their loved one's cremated remains. Oftentimes, when there are multiple siblings, each sibling will receive a small portion of a parent's remains. These portions are usually kept in smaller urns, referred to as a "keepsake urns".

Please share your thoughts on sharing a loved one's cremated remains. Do you or will you keep a small portion of a loved ones cremated remains? Why or why not? Or do you know someone who has a keepsake urn?

Ozeki R. L. (2008). The Art of Losing: On Writing, Dying, & Mom. Shambhala Sun

What is Hydro Cremation?

Let's take a scientific look at the Alkaline Hydrolysis process.

When we die, autolysis is the natural method of decomposition, just as food in the intestine is digested and transformed into nutrients by protease. Human bodies are 70% water and when buried under the earth we decompose, as the body compounds separate into simpler substances by action of microbial and/or autolytic enzymes. Lysosomes are organelles within cells that contain hydrolytic enzymes (lysozymes) that break down proteins and certain carbohydrates. This enzymatic action continues to occur after death.

Hydro Cremation is the water reduction process, known scientifically as Alkaline Hydrolysis. The hydro cremation process uses water instead of fire. Hydrolysis is a process of breaking apart with an enzyme. The addition of water into a chemical bond with the help of enzymes leads to cleavage.

The Alkaline hydrolysis process has been used worldwide in laboratory and research applications. It is a fully automated process of pressure, high temperature, and alkalinity to accelerate the natural process of tissue hydrolysis decomposition by using a strong alkali (pH 14) to solubilize and hydrolyze tissue, expedited by heat at 150°C in a pressurized vessel. The integral load cells weigh the body and the appropriate amount of water and alkali are added automatically to the vessel.

The vessel is quickly heated via steam to around 150°C (~300°F) and the body is resolved to its component elements. The entire process is complete in 2-3 hours. This process generates a solution of amino acids, peptides, sugars, and soap (salts of fatty acids) that is suitable and safe for release into the environment. The process is environmentally friendly because it does not generate air pollution and the embalming fluid is neutralized into a harmless chemical compound. It incurs 20 times less CO₂ emissions vs. average cremation. It is energy efficient, using 1/10th the energy per body versus cremation. It allows possible salvage of surgically-inserted foreign items in the body, like pacemakers, replacement joints and pins, which remain sterile and intact for recovery and possible re-use. It is projected that within 5 years hundreds of machines will be in use in California, Oregon, and Washington.

By mimicking a body’s natural chemical process of decomposition, it breaks down the human chemical makeup of 65% Oxygen, 18% Carbon, 10% Hydrogen, 3% Nitrogen, 1.5% Calcium, 1% Phosphorus and 1.5% total of remaining additional elements, reducing CO₂ emissions in the process.

The Alkaline Hydrolysis Process

• A body is placed into the Aquapyre, hydrocremation unit.
• The vessel is filled with an alkali solution of 95 percent water with 5 percent potassium hydroxide.
• The solution and flow reduces the remains into amino acids, small peptides, sugars, nutrients, and soapy lather.
• After rinsing, drying and processing, a pure white ash is returned to the family.

 

Benefits of Hydro Cremation (Alkaline Hydrolysis)

• No harmful mercury emissions.
• Far less energy used than in traditional cremation.
• No burning of caskets.
• Cleaner - No emitting of toxins or dioxins into the atmosphere.
• Less carbon dioxide production than incineration cremation.
• Bone ash remains are 100% unique to the individual
• Byproducts enrich soil chemistry.
• The bone ash (Calcium Phosphate) are 100% sterile completely neutralized disease and pathogen free.
  

Did You Know About Water Burial in Tibet?

In Tibet, "Water Burial" is practiced. This is where bodies are placed in lakes to decompose naturally. The alkaline hydrolysis process is essentially the same type of disposition with the exception of the length of time it takes for the body to be reduced to ash.

Please share your thoughts on the Hydro Cremation. Will you choose hydro cremation? Why or why not?

Concerns: Cremation Emissions, Toxins and Air Quality

Some Americans are concerned that traditional cremations are actually environmentally problematic. They are only 10% greener than a traditional burial. The energy consumed in cremating bodies at temperatures of more than 900C or the dioxin and other gases released into the atmosphere in the process are seldom considered.

According to "A Guide to Natural Burial", author Ken West, says:

Incineration Cremation vaporizes the water content, soft tissue, and organs and converts them into polluting gases. If an average of two cremators are operated at the 260 UK crematoria during each working day, then every 90 minutes, the average time taken to complete a cremation, 520 bodies are incinerated together with 520 chipboard coffins, and plastic/fabric coffin liners and 2,080 plastic handles plus the gas used. Add to this an assumed 6 amalgam-filled teeth per body, a total of 3,120 mercury fillings, the emissions of which will drift on westerly winds and deposit through precipitation in the sea. The cod, plaice and other fish absorb this mercury through the food chain, which we ultimately eat.

Many crematoria are situated in densely populated areas. They release harmful emissions such as nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, sulphur dioxide, dioxins, furans, formaldehyde, and mercury; as well as tiny portions of dust, called particulates.

These combination of emissions and particulates are adding to those fron industrial processes, vehicles, and central heating boilers. This air pollution exceeds prescribed EU levels in many UK cities and contributes to respiration problems.

The government has accepted that mercury emissions pose a threat to human health and, by agreement with the federation of British Cremation Authorities (FBCA) at least 50% of cremations will be abated by the end of 2012.

Some metal residue remains after each after each cremation, hitherto interred in the crematorium grounds and a potential ground water pollution threat. Of the 260  crematoria, only 160 (62%) recycled this waste by 2009.

South Australia, research suggested that a conventional burial created 39kgs of carbon compared to unabated cremation at 160kgs.

It is important to note here that purchasing carbon credits with an incineration cremation, does not remove the toxins from the air that the cremation process itself produces.

Some Fire-based Cremation Pollution Facts

• 16 gallons of gasoline is the equivalency "that each human cremation uses up", about when an SUV burns in nearly a 200-mile trip.
• 32% Americans cremated each year.
• 1% Increase of cremations each year in the USA.
• 16% Mercury emissions in the UK as a result of gasses released during cremation.
• 278 lbs. per year of Mercury Emissions in the US from cremation, that is "based on an average of 7 amalgam fillings per baby boomer."
• 0.2% Global emission of dioxins and furans caused by cremation.
• 42% Of cremated bodies that contain either metal or plastic implants that contribute to the dioxin release during cremation.
• 10% Greener than traditional burial in a traditional gravesite.
• 1,000 to 7,800 Pounds of Mercury released annually by cremations in the USA alone.
• 83 Trips to the moon from the USA and back = the amount of energy spent to process 1 years worth of cremations in the USA.

Fire-based Cremation Emissions Hurt the Environment and our Air Quality

The process of cremation involves burning the often-embalmed remains with their caskets,

releasing fossil fuels into the air including:

• Dioxin
  
• hydrochloric acid
• hydrofluoric acid
• sulfur dioxide
• carbon dioxide
• nitrogen oxides
• carbon monoxide
• particulate matter
• mercury
• hydrogen fluoride
• hydrogen chloride
• and other heavy metals into the atmosphere.

Although special filters are designed to reduce mercury emissions during the cremation process, toxic chemicals from the embalming fluid still escape into the earth’s atmosphere.

Please share your thoughts on cremation. 

Will you choose cremation for yourself? Why or why not?

Are you worried about air quality in your city or state? 

What is Green Burial?

What is Green Burial?

Green burial incarnates the pure nature of allowing the body to return naturally to the earth. When one opts for a natural green burial, he or she is contributing to the preservation of the land. Green burials are a practical alternative to both traditional burials and cremation. There is either no embalming or embalming with non-toxic, formaldehyde-free fluids, no headstones and no grave liners. (Grave liners are concrete boxes that line the inside of the grave, like an open-ended box with no lid, used to keep regular cemeteries flat for grass to be mowed easily). The container that holds the body (coffin, casket, or shroud) must be 100% biodegradable.

Green burial grounds adopt principles of restoration ecology, to eventually become natural wilderness preserves. Restoration ecologists study the land to learn what is native, what had invaded the land, what wildlife existed, and plan to encourage the restoration and preservation of the grounds. Land is maintained without chemicals or non-native plantings.

Although many consider green burial a new choice in burial options, green burials have been in existence for many years. Families used to care for their own deceased loved ones, and usually buried them on their own property. Although they weren’t called green burials then, we now understand the wisdom of these practices.

Why choose green burial?

Those who choose Green Burial oppose the chemicals used in the traditional embalming process. However, the funeral industry is working to reduce and eliminate these issues. New environmentally friendly embalming fluids and chemicals are now available by some of the leading funerary chemical manufacturers.

To help further reduce waste, green burial supporters choose biodegradable, sustainable solutions for their end-of-life plans. This includes burial choices of sustainably grown woods, woven baskets, natural pottery urns, and other earth friendly materials. However, there is no need to purchase a product to ensure a green departure. Sustainable products include the reuse of retired objects that could be good for the purposes of burial or cremains.

Benefits of Green Burial

• Environmentally friendly, low impact burials. 
• Land stewardship and restoration planning. 
• Sustainable burial methods.
• Restrictions to keep the grounds exclusively as green cemetery. 
• Some use naturally flat stones or native trees used for grave markers with GIS coordinates recorded. Others have no grave-markers. 
• Oftentimes, it is purely forest and meadows 

Green Burial Facts

Enriches Soil. Adds organic material, Improves fertility and productivity. Suppresses plant diseases, discourages insects, increases water retention, inoculates soil with beneficial microorganisms, reduces or eliminates fertilizer needs, moderates soil temperature.

Prevents Pollution. Reduces methane production in landfills, reduces or eliminates organic garbage, reduces or eliminates sewage.

Fights Existing Pollution. Degrades toxic chemicals, binds heavy metals, cleans contaminated air, cleans storm-water runoff.

Aids in reforestation, helps restore wildlife habitats, helps reclaim mined lands, helps restore damaged wetlands, helps prevent erosion on flood plains.

Destroys Pathogens. Can destroy human disease organisms, plant pathogens, and livestock pathogens.

Eliminates waste disposal costs. Reduces the need for water, fertilizers, and pesticides. Extends landfill life by diverting materials and is a less costly bioremediation technique.

Our Video Supporting the Need for Green Burial 

Please share your thoughts about Green Burial. 
Have you known anyone who has chosen a green burial or have you visited a green burial cemetery? If so, what did you find different/like about the cemetery? 
Will you choose green burial for yourself? Why or why not?

HydroCremation, Environmentally Responsible Alternative to Cremation

Alkaline Hydrolysis, alternative to incineration creation

When we die, Alkaline Hydrolysis is the natural method of decomposition. Just as food in the intestine is digested and transformed into nutrients by alkaline hydrolysis and enzymes operating at pH 7-8 at body temperature. Human bodies are mostly water and when buried under the earth we degrade through this natural process, (expedited by the soil bacteria.)

“Water Resolution” is the water reduction process for the application of Alkaline Hydrolysis to human cadavers. The Alkaline hydrolysis process has been used worldwide in laboratory and research applications. It is a fully automated process of pressure, high temperature, and alkalinity to accelerate the natural process of tissue hydrolysis decomposition by using a strong alkali (pH 14) to solubilize and hydrolyze tissue, expedited by heat at 150˚C in a pressurized vessel. The integral load cells weigh the body and the appropriate amount of water and alkali are added automatically to the vessel. The vessel is quickly heated via steam to around 150˚C (~300˚F) and the body is resolved to its component elements. The entire process is complete in 2-3 hours. This process generates a solution of amino acids, peptides, sugars, and soap (salts of fatty acids) that is suitable and safe for release into the environment.

The process is environmentally friendly because it does not generate air pollution and the embalming fluid is neutralized into a harmless chemical compound. It incurs 20 times less CO2 emissions vs. average cremation. It is energy efficient, using 1/10th the energy per body versus cremation. It makes use of foreign substance in the body, like pacemakers, replacement joints and pins, which remain sterile and intact for recovery and possible re-use. Additionally, for the budget conscious, it is 3-5 times less expensive than cremation. It is projected that within 5 years hundreds of machines will be in use in California, Oregon, and Washington.

By mimicking a body’s natural chemical process of decomposition it breaks down the human chemical make up of 65% Oxygen, 18% Carbon, 10% Hydrogen, 3% Nitrogen, 1.5% Calcium, 1% Phosphorus and 1.5% total of remaining additional periodic elements reducing CO2 emissions in the process.

All content © Village Memorial. 2009-2010.

Green Departures

“Americans put 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid, 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete, 104,272 tons of steel [for caskets and vaults], 2,700 tons of copper and bronze, and 30 million board feet of hardwoods into the ground each year...the concrete alone…[is] enough to build 13,573 American houses.”
A growing trend is the practice green or natural burial, which compassionately cares for the deceased and protects the earth. However, this natural and safe method has been practiced for centuries.

Muslims wrap their dead in “white wrappings” and bury them directly onto the dirt of the grave (Jonker, 2006, p. 158). As Jonker (2006) explains, “No coffin is needed or wanted” (p. 158). The body is lowered into the grave “with shawls or lengths of cloth” and is “positioned as if sleeping” (Jonker, 2006, p. 158) with either a stone or pile of mud placed under the head for support (p. 158). The natural burial of the body in Islam (wrappings of just a shroud, no embalming and being placed directly in contact with the earth) allows for a more natural return to the earth. There is no use of unnecessary embalming fluid and coffin to slow the recycling of the body to the soil.

The Jews also bury directly in the ground, and do not allow interment in mausoleums “as this is not returning the body to the dust from whence it came” (Levine, 1997, p. 107). Additionally, like Islam, Judaism prohibits both cremation and embalming (Levine, 1997, p. 107). This law was designed to prevent destruction and or altering of the body, however it is also done for the compassion of the surviving loved ones (Levine, 1997, p. 107). Because “embalming…creates an illusion of life…[it] may hinder the bereaved from acknowledging the death of their loved one” (Levine, 1997, p. 108). These compassionate Jewish values honor the deceased, assist in the healing of loved ones and protect the planet.

Ecohumanist beliefs also support natural burial for the preservation of the planet. One of the principles shared on the Council for Secular Humanist (2009) is to “protect and enhance the earth, to preserve it for future generations, and to avoid inflicting needless suffering on other species.” When one considers all the pollution and waste from common contemporary burials (embalmed body in casket), one cannot ignore the significant and devastating effects upon the earth. Cullen (2006) presents some very startling statistics on contemporary burials.

“Americans put 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid, 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete, 104,272 tons of steel [for caskets and vaults], 2,700 tons of copper and bronze, and 30 million board feet of hardwoods into the ground each year...the concrete alone…[is] enough to build 13,573 American houses” (p. 52).

“Like the contents of any landfill, the embalmed body’s toxic cache escapes its host and eventually leaches into the environment, tainting surrounding soil and groundwaters” (Harris, 2007, p. 38). This happens because coffins are not leak-proof. Harris (2007) explains that the “combined body fluids, liquefied tissue, formaldehyde, bacteria, and corporeal acids…collect at the lowest spot of the casket, pooling in a…toxic soup” (p. 37). Wood caskets are porous offering minimal resistance to such toxic liquids, which can easily leak out (Harris, 2007, p. 37). While “metal caskets are more resilient…acids work to breach them as well” (Harris, 2007, p. 37). Cullen (2006) notes that green (natural) burials can “cut that waste [and pollution] dramatically” (p. 52).

Embalming and caskets are not only unnecessary, they are wasteful and harmful to the planet. Obviously the pollution of the earth and the waste of precious resources do not help to protect the purity or safety of our planet. Natural or green burials, as supported by Ecohumanists, are clearly the most ethical and compassionate methods of burial. They help protect the planet for future generations.

References:
Cullen, L. T. (2006). Remember Me. New York: Harper Collins.

Harris, M. (2007). Grave Matters. A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial. New York: Scribner.

Jonker, G. (2006). The many facets of Islam: Death, dying and disposal between orthodox rule and historical conventon, in, C.M. Parkes, P. Laungani, & B. Young (Ed.), Death and Bereavement Across Cultures (pp. 98-130) London: Routledge.

Levine, E. (2006). Jewish Views and Customs on Death, in, C.M. Parkes, P. Laungani, & B. Young (Ed.), Death and Bereavement Across Cultures (pp. 98-130) London: Routledge.

The Affirmations of Humanism: A Statement of Principles. (2009). Council for Secular Humanism. Retrieved June 2, 2009, from: http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=main&page=affirmations
All content © Village Memorial. 2009-2010.