The Stewardship of Death

For a long time now, I have known that I wanted to be cremated upon my death. Mostly as a stewardship issue. Why waste a good piece of ground by putting a metal or wood airtight casket inside a cement vault and cover it with a granite stone. None of which makes the ground good for anything. Growing up in a farm family, I was taught the value of preserving the earth.

Then in Saturday's mail came the Feb. 26, 2007 issue of Time magazine. In it on pg. 13, there is an article addressing the stewardship of death... actually it refers to is as "Going Green to the Grave". It mentions several new methods of practicing stewardship of the earth...1. caskets made of 90% recycled wood and natural glue, 2. being dipped in liquid nitrogen (being done now in Sweden) so that your body will become brittle and become dust easier, 3. using the carbon from being cremated to make a synthetic diamond. It also mentions the reality that our dental fillings when cremated cause a toxic pollutant -- something I hadn't thought about when choosing cremation.

Of all the above options, I like the diamond one. After-all I can just imagine my daughter being complimented on her beautiful diamond and responding with "Thanks -- It's my dad!"

Seriously, it's time for us to think about a stewardship of death. Our current practices render useful land useless. What do you think?