Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Why spend the money on a burial and a plot, whether or not they have the money? You might as well set that money on fire. Between the embalming, the coffin, and the concrete vault it's an environmental nightmare. And to do what? Preserve a body for *slightly* longer so we don't have to face the squick factor of ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and all bodies decompose? And forget about flying a body across the country.
Cremation is a step up both cost-wise and environmentally, but it's still pretty impactful given the fuel use and the greenhouse gases, not to mention the mercury in any fillings that might get aerosolized.
There are cheaper and greener ways to go, such as a burial plot in a green cemetary (no embalming, you're buried in a simple wooden box or a shroud).
But overall, money should be spent on the living, not the dead. And I'm not talking about maximizing an inheritance -- with my mom, who doesn't have a whole lot of money so I'm never inheriting, she and I would both rather if money that might have been spent on a burial etc. went to a charity instead. Leave the world a slightly better place than you found it.
I agree with what you say theoretically. I don’t like my in laws at all but their wishes are to be buried in an actual cemetery. So wdyd then?