I suspect that most will have viewed the suggestion in my last post that human corpses be used to produce biodiesel, as in very poor taste. However I was not entirely joking. Think about these points.
We live in a society where we acknowledge that we should recycle dwindling resources as much as possible.
Vegetable biodiesel diverts huge areas of agricultural land away from food production, often in countries that desperately need to produce more food.
We already accept the concept of organ donation, in effect recycling of human body parts.
The established methods of disposal of cadavers is highly unsatisfactory. Burial takes up valuable land that could otherwise be used for agriculture or housing. Cremation requires a great deal of energy, produces large ammounts of CO2, and contaminates the atmosphere. Both methods are in effect elaborate methods of discarding the body.
The religious of course would object very strongly, but then they also once objected to cremation, and islam still does. Once dead our bodies contain much that could be recycled, not just oil, albeit on a much more mundane level than organ donation. I am sure many, especially atheists would have no objection to this means of disposal. Is it really such a dreadful idea?
"Once dead our bodies contain much that could be recycled"
ReplyDeleteAnd the reason Muslims are buried in just a sheet of fabric on the same day or the following to death. First, to respect the dead person by protecting them from prying eyes, humility as they are buried as they came, and that return to dust, hence, are recycled back to nature. Teaches the virtues of modesty too.
When king Hussein of Jordan died, the whole world was bewildered how a 'king' is buried in a sheet and laid on the bare ground. In the eyes of God, we're all equal, king or begger.
Dead is dead. Concepts of respect, humility, modesty and equality are beyond the deceased. And the concept of god is a fantasy.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, now, before I die, I don't give a shit what happens to my body after my death and I sure as hell won't care after.
Nor do I care what happens to my body either, only, the lessons are for the 'living' not the dead. Lessons that are relevant to 'life', whether you believe in God or not.
ReplyDeleteWhen I am dead, I want to be recycled. Some of me could be reused, the rest could be buried beneath an apple tree so that my friends can make cider and get drunk on me.
ReplyDelete