Earth Day

[Rogar]

Any more here in my liberal state the cannabis 420 celebration gets about as much attention as Earth Day, but the media had a few features and reminders. I took a walk in the foothills, saw some cool birds, and there were a few early blossoming flowers. A little reminder of things we can take for granted at times and I didn't have to drive very far.

[rosarugosa]

I did some work in the garden. I got a lot of emails from merchants who seemed to think I should celebrate Earth Day by buying stuff.

[catherine]

Earth Day was yesterday, but I was just thinking how things seem to be in such turmoil politically and ecologically and financially, and then I thought about how there are so many things wrong with the world but you all are what's right with it.

Thanks for being here, acting out the solutions for responsible stewardship of the earth through conscious spending and just for being all-around good people.

[iris lilies]

my brother, the cynic, points out every Earth Day that the founder of Earth Day practiced what he preached. He killed and composted his girlfriend, so there’s that. Composting is good!

[jp1]

my brother, the cynic, points out every Earth Day that the founder of Earth Day practiced what he preached. He killed and composted his girlfriend, so there’s that. Composting is good!

While I don't advocate for people to kill others I actually like the idea of composting deceased humans. My parents both chose not to be embalmed, preferring to be buried in basic unsealed wooden caskets unembalmed so that their bodies would decompose relatively quickly over time. When I die I would love to be composted. Once my body is useless to me I don't see any point in preserving it for any length of time.

Random work related story tied to this subject. At my previous mega-corp job in addition to writing cyber insurance policies and technology malpractice policies we also wrote professional malpractice policies for all sorts of industries. One of my insureds was a funeral home. I learned from my boss of the time that those were actually a really high hazard professional malpractice exposure. Apparently it's relatively common for funeral homes to cheat when cremating people. Instead of doing each person individually they will do multiple people at once which, to stick with the earth day theme, is less energy intensive, but is also dishonest. You don't get your loved one's remains back. You get an assortment of multiple people's remains. Boss called claims about this "shake and bake" claims and described one where the family looked at the cremains and found the stainless steel screws and stuff from a joint replacement but knew that their loved one had never had any such medical treatment so they were fairly certain that the ashes weren't just their loved one. They won the lawsuit and the insurance policy paid out a lot of money to the family for mental distress.

[catherine]

Interesting story, jp! I've heard similar stories about dog cremations, but of course, it's a much more egregious practice with humans!

[Rogar]

While I don't advocate for people to kill others I actually like the idea of composting deceased humans. My parents both chose not to be embalmed, preferring to be buried in basic unsealed wooden caskets unembalmed so that their bodies would decompose relatively quickly over time. When I die I would love to be composted. Once my body is useless to me I don't see any point in preserving it for any length of time.

Apparently it's relatively common for funeral homes to cheat when cremating people. Instead of doing each person individually they will do multiple people at once which, to stick with the earth day theme, is less energy intensive, but is also dishonest. .

I think I would prefer not to be embalmed and will have to consider that in some final directives. I suppose it's just a matter of time when we all decompose. There are legal requirements around embalming. I could be fact checked on this, but in my region I think most cemeteries require a concrete fault for the casket to be placed in at burial, regardless of embalming or casket.

I would challenge that the "apparently common practice" is totally unfounded rumor. I come from a family of funeral directors and have confidence that would not happen within my realm of knowledge. It could be an "uncommon" practice. It's my understanding that the typical cremation chamber is not large enough to accommodate more than one human remain.

To assume funeral directors are commonly dishonest or unethical is misdirected. I'd be far more suspicious of the insurance industry.

[happystuff]

Memory is going, I think, but I do recall seeing a story somewhere (maybe here???) about remains being turned into rocks. No restrictions on "spreading" the remains and a little more appealing - maybe for some - to carry around than ashes. It is on my to-do list to look into.

[jp1]

I think I would prefer not to be embalmed and will have to consider that in some final directives. I suppose it's just a matter of time when we all decompose. There are legal requirements around embalming. I could be fact checked on this, but in my region I think most cemeteries require a concrete fault for the casket to be placed in at burial, regardless of embalming or casket.

I would challenge that the "apparently common practice" is totally unfounded rumor. I come from a family of funeral directors and have confidence that would not happen within my realm of knowledge. It could be an "uncommon" practice. It's my understanding that the typical cremation chamber is not large enough to accommodate more than one human remain.

To assume funeral directors are commonly dishonest or unethical is misdirected. I'd be far more suspicious of the insurance industry.

I should clarify that when I say "common practice" I'm applying my perspective from my area of the commercial insurance world. Unlike automobile or workers compensation claims, claims in the cyber/technology/professional malpractice area are not frequent, but often severe. (If I get a submission that does not include loss runs I work on the assumption that there aren't any losses, and only confirm after I've released terms to the insurance broker.) So if I have seen more than two claims involving any particular scenario that becomes "common" to me and something I need to keep an eye out for when doing my underwriting of accounts. For all I know the three or four cremation issues I've heard about are the only ones that have ever happened. I apologize if I came across as disparaging funeral directors. I don't know any funeral directors personally but it would not surprise me if they are, in fact, more upstanding on average than the average insurance broker, of whom I know quite a few. (most of whom are upstanding, but definitely not 100% of them)

[Alan]

I remember the first Earth Day, I was in high school at the time. I've always thought it was a stroke of genius to establish its first occurrence on Vladimir Lenin's 100th birthday, two celebrations in one.