Gizmodo
When you die, instead of having your grave marked by granite, you can now peg it to something even more immutable: latitude and longitude. A new eco-friendly forest graveyard promises a new kind of service, according to the Sydney Morning Herald:
The deceased will be buried in biodegradable coffins between gum trees in a protected koala sanctuary...Relatives and friends will require a satellite navigation device to find graves of loved ones.
The graves, located at Lismore Memorial Park Cemetery in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, Australia, will be unmarked but recorded in coordinates, and spaced at 5 meters to ensure you're kneeling at the decomposing remains of the right person. In case you think it's a ploy by Garmin and Magellan to sell more handheld GPS products, mourners will be able to borrow one (possibly for free) for the visit.
This so-called "eco-burial" practice is not without merit. I've always complained that cemeteries and golf courses were great wastes of space—using this concept, you can combine the two. (Just look out for the mourners on the 9th green.) It's not just the land use, either. Cremation emits foul greenhouse gases; embalming fluid and coffin varnishes and glues can harm the groundwater; said coffins deplete non-sustainable forestry; and granite headstones require CO2-emission-heavy shipments from China (at least for Australians). It's a nasty business all around, in need of some green thinking.
I do anticipate a few issues, though, and anyone who's ever tried geocaching can back me up: It's not super easy, and requires a lot of meandering. Spry youthful survivors of the deceased may have an easy time of it, but 85-year-old widows will certainly not, even if they do know how to read and follow the display on a Magellan Triton or Garmin eTrex.
Jack, our new weekend writer, raises another possibly legitimate concern: "After a heavy rain, I might wake up next to someone's dead uncle." [SMH]
Comments
What? Why would simple stone markers scattered in the forest ruin the ecosystem? theres already rocks there. People wandering to the grave sites will do more damage. Also, one is basically guaranteed to be walking over the remains of dead people...which is a big no no...
love the graphic
@redkamel: It's the production and shipment of the tombstones that create greenhouse gas emissions and harm the environment.
buried in New Jersey? no thank you.
yep, so we've finally gotten to the point where we say that tombstones create too much green house gas. Here's a though, people breathing cause green house gas, maybe we should start offing each other? I like the idea of buring people in a nature reserve though.
wait, biodegradable coffins? Lat/Long to the "gravesite"?
Follow that worm!
Geocaching coffins? I can see it now....
"First to find! TNLNSL! P.S. Needs maintenance, smells bad."
@goochillini: How do you get "New Jersey" from "The graves, located at Lismore Memorial Park Cemetery in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, Australia"?
hmm..i find this will be hard for most of people. why cant they just put some mark in every graveyard it's not necessarily have to be gravestones, A Dead tree branch would do with name and codes engraved in it.
Funny, I just told my wife this morning that when I die I want to be wrapped in simple cloth, buried under a redwood tree and have the GPS coordinates given to the relatives if they want to visit. Screw the chemicals, coffins, absurd costs and waste of space. I'd rather respect the natural cycles of life and death by being absorbed back into the environment than pollute my body as a final f*@k you to nature. Nothing says that better than feeding lots of worms and becoming plant food.
coorodinates on the card in pic of the crypt keeper...@Leonard Nimrod:
coorodinates on the card in pic of the crypt keeper...
"Cremation emits foul greenhouse gases"
"Foul greenhouse gases"? Really?
"embalming fluid and coffin varnishes and glues can harm the groundwater"
Plausible
"coffins deplete non-sustainable forestry"
Flat out not true -- to a laughable degree.
"and granite headstones require CO2-emission-heavy shipments from China (at least for Australians)"
Oh come on, now you're really taking this to far.
Lookout for muggles.
@johnnyabnormal: you know, Muslims bury thier Dead using plain white clothes.. and yes, people should adapt that also.
Jack needs not worry about heavy rain in Australia. We have had a few drop as of late but 'heavy'??? I'd like to see that!!! Half of NSW is still drought declared. I can just see someone following their trusty GPS to their loved ones burial location to find a family of 6 having a nice picnic under a shady gum tree.........Or a steaming pile of roo poo.
@goochillini: What's wrong with being buried in NJ?
@Lestat: i guess nothing, it is better than Philly.
@Leonard Nimrod: The Cryptmaster's sign which says 40.4N, 74W.
@Amiash: Really? I might be wrong, but I think traditional Tibetan burials leave you exposed to have your bones picked clean by vultures. Regardless, to quote Chancho from "Nacho Libre":
"I believe in science!"
Another natural method might be to simply dumped at sea. I heard the mafia has been using this peaceful method for years...
Mmmm whacha say,
Mmmm that you only meant well?
well of course you did
Mmmm whacha say,
Mmmm that its all for the best?
Because it is
we definitely need to stop doing the whole non biodegradable coffins. It's because of stupid religious beliefs that most of this nonsense exists anyway.
@wilson rothman
"I've always complained that cemeteries and golf courses were great wastes of space"
a semi-direct rip-off of one of rodney dangerfield's
lines from caddyshack
just sayin.......
ok, A) most hand held GPS devices are good to about 5-10 feet depending on the constellation, so without any marker, you'll get close-ish to the actual grave. 2) Plate tectonics means that lat and lon aren't actually that immutable. Maybe not a big deal in Australia, but in California one big earthquake would put you several feet away from your stated lat and lon. D) I don't get why this is better than scattering ashes; either way there's nothing to see, but you can feel an emotional connection to a particular place. But that's not for me to judge.
@zarquon: GPS tracks changes plate tectonics, so that won't be a big deal if you need adjusted coordinates. But, constellations? WTF?
@johnnyabnormal No, GPS doesn't track plate tectonics. The plates move all over the place, but lat and lon are always grid-like. Think about India smashing into Asia (to raise the Himalayas), the lats and lons on one of those continents would have to change.
And by constellation I meant of the GPS satellites. Their arrangement in the sky affects the device's accuracy.
One problem with biodegrading bits is that graveyards like that stink. That's one of the purposes of the whole incense in churches and in a person thing.
I personally have thought of an elaborate process that would involve my ashes and the forging of a sword and planting a tree in remaining ashes, but it's only something I entertain for amusement purposes.
What is the need for this? Are the dead moving around?
Or we could just eat them. Win-win?
This is a great idea.
If it weren't illegal, i'd happily just have my body dumped in the desert (i'm from Australia) to be pecked away by scavengers.
@zarquon: Really? I must have been hallucinating the other day when I walked my dog past the GIS/GPS relay station in Point Richmond, CA and read a placard explaining how it is used to track plate tectonics and correct GPS coordinates. I know lat and lon don't change, but you can track plate drift and alter your coordinates to account for any changes.
@Reilaos~: "One problem with biodegrading bits is that graveyards like that stink"
If you're 6 feet under, nobody will smell you.
@tokiwartooth: If it's illegal for my body to be buried the way I want, I'll hire someone to do it for me anyway.
umm, I've got a possibly stupid question. What tv show or movie is that guy in the graphic from? I remember watching him/it.
I want to be buried under the 50-yard line of a random professional stadium.
@Joetimek: Except the Browns.
@Hiphopopotamus: I had that song out of my head by 3pm this afternoon. I hate you and your stupid Gene Shalit face. And tomatoes.
@tokiwartooth: Actually, I bet Nutbastard would do it for free, just to piss off the man.
I hear on your deathbed you will recieve total consciousness....so you go that going for you. See, I'm not the only one that can rattle off Caddyshack quotes, you clever bastards.
@Lestat: I thought being in NJ was like being dead...
Check this out:
scrolling="no" src="http://www.kqed.org/quest/television/embed/114" width="320" border="0" height="205">
When I go I want to be as big of an asshole in death as I am in life. I want to be embalmed and buried in a lead coffin in some ultra liberal loud mouthed environmentally hypocritical place like in Massachusetts where they apposed that wind farm in Cape Cod Bay. Oh and I want my body to be transported there in an antique diesel semi-truck that is fifty years old and emits lots of greenhouse gases and carcinogens.
@adrunkenmonkey: What's this talk about NJ seeming like a bad place?! I lived there for 10+ years, and it's a nice place.. In the places that are nice at least..
@Katorok: heaven and hell is what we make of it, but everybody agrees that hell is nicer than NJ
@jkr: I mean aside from the insane property tax, congestion, bad drivers, it's not that.. bad...
South Jersey is nicer. ;)
This whole concept of burying the dead is outmoded.
The fact that they're marrying high tech with it is highly ironic.
Playing hide and seek, well that's just weird man.
We could be harvesting the dead for their moisture and valuable chemicals instead of wasting the materials in landfills.
[i301.photobucket.com]
It's already started. Go and try a Live Search for Soylent Green:
[search.live.com]
And take a look at the EBay ad on the right.
@jkr: HUMAN CO2 "exhaust" due to respiration are accounted for in the environment, but not all of our emissions due to industry.
Add a Dash GPS with user-generated traffic pattern generators, and this could let you know the hellish or heavenly whereabouts of your loved one. And how long it took for them to arrive at their destination.