International Business Times
December 6, 2011
Burial and cremation are the most common ways we dispose of the dead, but while these methods are steeped in tradition, they’re far from environmentally friendly. Embalming bodies requires cancer-causing chemicals like formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde and phenol – in fact, every year in the U.S. we bury 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid. Plus, caskets are often made from mined metals, toxic plastic or endangered wood. U.S. cemeteries use 30 million board feet of hardwoods, 180,544,000 pounds of steel and 5,400,000 pounds of copper and bronze annually. Casket burials also prevent a corpse from decomposing efficiently, and this slow rotting process favors sulfur-loving bacteria, which can harm nearby water sources.
Read the full article in the International Business Times
Thanks to the Death…and More Blog for altering us to this article.
