fuck thousands for a coffin. or hundreds for an urn. can i legally be burried in butcher paper?

can i donate my body to science and skip burrial all together?

i want my final action to be a big middle finger to the funeral industry picking on people in their weakest moments.

  • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
    2·
    17 hours ago

    Certain types of burial allow the body to potentially contaminate nearby soil. Others can leave behind a void that can either collapse and disrupt nearby graves, or in some cases lift the body back to the surface in heavy rain. (Extremely uncommon now because essentially nowhere allows you to use those methods)

    Funeral pyres or other forms of open air cremation are generally not legal due to concerns of fire spreading.
    Whole body water burial is probably not legal in a body of fresh water in the US due mostly to the complexity of figuring out which law applies to that circumstance in any of the bodies of water that could be used that wouldn’t be grossly undersized and unsanitary. (Basically that means the Great lakes, which are the only ones with the depth and size sufficient, but are shared between multiple states and also Canada. Usually the rule is that if it’s not forbidden it’s permitted, but body disposal is more complicated)

    • PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca
      3·
      16 hours ago

      I probably should have said “safely” rather than just “sanitary”, I was thinking about water burials and ground water contamination when I said that.
      And also just like… Leaving the body out in a public area.

      As long as you’re not putting people in danger, and you’re not disrespecting the deceased, what would be illegal?

      • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
        1·
        3 hours ago

        Most states have laws indicating you must involve a funeral director to ensure the.body is disposed of properly, and then define the licensure requirements for a funeral director to include the types of disposal they can oversee.
        It means they don’t need to define every type of burial you’re not allowed to do, and there should be a qualified professional to ensure whatever you’re doing is okay before you do it.

        The libertarian impulse to say that if it doesn’t hurt anyone it should be legal butts into the reality that every time we have that policy for body disposal things tend to go funny in unexpected ways.

    • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
      3·
      16 hours ago

      Funeral pyres or other forms of open air cremation are generally not legal due to concerns of fire spreading.

      That’s why you set up your OWN funeral pyre! Got a terminal cancer diagnosis, looking to go out on your own terms?

      1. Erect a large funeral pyre on a large piece of open ground. (Ideally do this at a time of low fire risk.)
      2. Create an ignition mechanism that can be activated by a timer.
      3. Take a lethal dose of opioids or whatever assisted-suicide drug you’ve been prescribed.
      4. Set the timer to ignite the pyre a few hours after you are certain to have succumb to the effects of the drug.
      5. Activate the timer, climb atop the pyre, and take the big nap.
      6. A few hours later the pyre alights and your body is cremated in an open funeral pyre.

      I mean, sure, it’s illegal as Hell. But who are they going to prosecute? Are they going to put your ashes on trial?