Sweden is considering allowing freeze-drying as a new method to bury the dead instead of traditional burials and cremations.
The freeze-drying method offers an environmentally friendly burial transforming corpses into organic compost. Traditional burials and cremations hurt the environment by polluting air and water, as a corpse buried in a coffin will take many years to decompose completely.
Under the new method, the corpse is taken to a temperature of minus 196 degrees Celsius in a liquid nitrogen bath and the body is broken down into a rough powder through mechanical vibrations.
The remains are then dehydrated and cleared of any metal, reducing a body weighing 75 kilograms (165 pounds) in life to 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of pink-beige powder, plus the remains of the coffin.
Swedish biologist Susanne Wiigh and her company Promessa have specialised in the freeze-drying method, and the company has applied for patents in 35 countries. Promessa has promoted the idea of using the human remains, like compost, to feed plants and shrubs.
I think this is a terrific idea. I could provide instant nutrients for the Santa Fe River bosque.
With a little seasoning and a binder the pink powder can be made into tasty crackers that people will riot over. “Soylent Green is People” Where is Chuck Heston and Edgar G Robinson when you need them 8
Not a bad idea. Of course the religious folks won’t go for this.
I still like the idea of one of our regular posters(yes, my mind went blank on who it was…lol) to use themself as wild life food. Just filet me and do a catering for the polar bears or brown bears please.
Hitler would’ve loved this!
Seriously. The idea of people as fertilizer is unsettling to me. Not to mention that we like to think of dead relatives as somewhere, even if it’s only the cemetary. Only a small faction of the population would go for this, probably the same percentage that donates their bodies to medical schools.
Just stuff me into a photon torpedo casing and shoot me into deep space.
Neat idea, though — hey you kids, get off my lawn!! That lawn grew courtesy of Gramps!! Not a bad way to go…
Stir the powder into milk and you might have a good breakfast drink. Might make a good ice cream topping too.
Freeze dried???
Just add water and instant human being.
No wonder Folger’s coffe doesn’t taste like coffee.
Pull the metals and plastic out of my mouth, grind me up, and plow me under. The worms and bacteria will take care of me in about 2 weeks.
Burial is as outdated as religion. Cremation and freeze-drying isn’t cost-effective or environmentally sound.
Let’s take grandpa camping.
The phrase “well preserved” when refering to old people now has a new meaning
News from my hometown!
Well, it’s supposed to be enviromental. but how much power does the cooling need?
I’m religious and I think this could be a good idea. The idea of being frozen down rather than burned or slowly rotting away seems less awful, somehow.
But the other posts have a point – is it really environmentally sound? Freezing still requires alot of energy. Having another alternative is a good thing, given the space we’re wasting with aging cemeteries. We can’t keep burying everyone and holding their plots forever, given the increasing population.
I haven’t decided yet. They’re all so appealing…
a) Crèmation brûlée
b) Boxed take-out for one
c) Diet Lite, weight reducing freeze dried
Just throw me in the ocean, any ocean or gulf or whatever. I’ll be happy to feed the fish and it’ll be simple to get rid of me.
(Wait ’til I’m dead though.)
Production costs of liquid nitrogen – which one presumes includes the cost of energy consumed – is less than the cost cycle for milk. The raw material, after all, is 4/5’s of our air.
I’ll go for just plant me in a biodegradable paper bag and plant a tree over me. I doubt if the freeze dry bit would make any difference in how I feel.
Naw, you can use my body for fertilizer, but take my brain out as soon as possible after I die and freeze in with liquid nitrogen. In the future either repair the damage and insert in a new cloned body or scan it and upload a neural map simulation into a computer so i can live again, mwahahahaha