We'll find out with the poll below, but I'd guess most of here intend to be cremated after death. Donating your organs is nice, but I think something still needs to be done with what's left. Donating your entire body to science is also an option. I have no idea if there is any return policy after your corpse's usefulness is over. Maybe somebody knows.
I promise NOT to argue with anyone who wants to be buried whole, no matter how irrational your reasons seem to me. Even though I'm pretty far over on the atheist side of the scale, I still harbor some irrational thoughts on the subject myself.
You'll soon discover this diary is more of an inquiry than my providing answers. I grew up Catholic, but when I was little we lived in a neighborhood that was predominantly Jewish. I acquired some vague knowledge about Jewish funerals. I did a small amount of research for the diary because I didn't know if those of the Jewish faith were not allowed to be embalmed or if it was simply unnecessary because of the quick interment. It seems both embalming and cremation are forbidden and considered disrespectful to the body in that faith.
http://www.chabad.org/...
A quick survey of other major religions: Cremation is allowed by most Protestant branches of Christianity. Now allowed by Catholicism after a papal edict in 1963. Not allowed by Islam or Eastern Orthodox. Open-air cremation is embraced and preferred by Hinduism with certain exceptions.
http://www.funeralplanning101.com/...
Cremation statistics vary wildly by state in the US. In 2003, cremation as a percentage of all deceased in that year was 31.2%. Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Hawaii had cremation rates over 60%! Wow, who knew? Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee had rates under 10%.
http://www.statemaster.com/...
My maternal grandparents decided to be be buried in Florida after retiring there. My grandmother looked at all the local cemeteries and picked what I thought was the least attractive but it had a little hill with available plots. She thought the other cemeteries might get flooded and her biggest fear was being underwater, even dead.
This second-generation apple didn't fall far from the tree. About a thousand years ago, I worked at a large hospital in a clinical lab. Many of my coworkers were medical students. Maybe things have changed since then but I got the impression from them that the cadavers for medical school were kept in a big vat and fished out when needed. A group vat! Sorry, I don't want to be floating around in liquid. I'd at least need a private vat, being naked and all. I know, completely irrational. One day I was talking to my dentist about my hope of dying with teeth and it turns out, dental students get cadavers too. Geez, you'd think they could get by with just a head, not the whole thing, but what do I know. Intellectually I'm fine with the idea of donating me to science, but not quite there emotionally.
My own family has some experience with cremation. We're practical people, maybe downright cheap. My paternal grandmother set the trend. She wanted her ashes sprinkled around her backyard. I wasn't present for the event but here's the story I got: My father tried to fulfill her wishes but there were some pieces definitely not ashes, probably bone fragments, but my mother thought they looked like teeth and she didn't want teeth scattered around the yard, so my father had to dig a little hole and put everything in there. I once dated a mortician, also a thousand years ago, and he was appalled by the story. He said there shouldn't have been any visible remains. Maybe the final grinding cost extra. My father would have nixed that. Or maybe my grandmother didn't want to be ground up. I don't know.
In due time, both of my parents died and were cremated. They're in urns for time being. Neither of them ever expressed any wishes about ashes after cremation. I think my mother would have preferred to be buried intact, next to her husband, but my father died first and wanted to be cremated so there was nothing to be buried next to. I had possession of the urns for a few years. I put them on a shelf, but on nice days I'd put them on the window sill so they could 'look' out the window. I know, totally irrational. The urns are now with another sibling. My parents went to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon so the progeny thought that would be a good final place if anybody ever gets near there. I'm pretty sure my mother wouldn't want to go over the falls, however, nor end up underwater. Maybe a nice park with a view of the falls. As I recall the Canadian side was lots nicer but my father wouldn't like that. It gets complicated.
I worked for a few years at a botanical garden. One morning I saw a woman, a stranger to me, who appeared to be fertilizing a magnolia tree. I was a bit concerned as I had recently fertilized the same tree so I approached her and inquired. She was all embarrassed that she hadn't gone through the proper channels and envisioned all kinds of red tape and a fee but finally admitted, "It's my mother." I wasn't in charge of such matters but I told her it was fine with me and walked away. A botanical garden isn't a bad idea. Oh, Longwood Gardens. Or the cherry trees around the tidal basin in DC near the Jefferson Memorial. That would be nice except I thinks it floods every so often. But ultimately, I'm more of a pristine nature kind of guy.
I intend to be cremated. No, I haven't gotten any dire medical news but I'm getting up there. It's written down. The family knows. I've designated the sprinkler familiar with the area. I've picked out the spot in a beautiful steep river valley in a state park of my childhood state. Vast and serene hardwood forests. Four seasons. Of course, high enough up so I don't get flooded.
Uh, oh! Breaking news to me. Environmental concerns! Air pollution from cremation. The culprit is mercury in dental fillings. Nearly 1/6 of current mercury emissions in UK from cremations where 75% are cremated. Government orders filters to be installed on crematoria by 2012.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency estimated in 2007 that cremation emits 80 pounds of mercury a year in Minnesota. (Good heavens!) Bill introduced to remove mercury amalgam fillings by dentist before cremation. Industry balked. Bill didn't pass. Apparently easier and safer to remove entire teeth than fillings. I don't like the sound of that. But I guess it's just for a while before I'm cremated and the rest of my teeth are ground up anyway. I'm okay with it.
http://www.deathcare.com/...
Do you intend to be cremated? Do you have plans for your ashes?