Company Presses Your Ashes Into Vinyl When You Die
Olivia Solon, Wired (August 27, 2010)

Many many people saw this Wired article on human cremains being mixed into vinyl records when it first popped up two weeks ago. I know that many people saw this article because everyone kept sending it to me and/or asking me about it. Then a Death Reference Desk Facebook “liker” put it on the Wall of Death, which meant that I had to do something other than just report this story. Our readers keep us on our toes.

After mulling over various story angles I realized that the most interesting thing to point out was this: Mixing cremated human remains into ANYTHING to produce an object of some kind which is then kept as a memorial isn’t new. In fact, Meg, Kim and I have been discussing the myriad ways human cremains get used since day one of Death Ref. You can read those posts here.

I was even in New York this summer giving a lecture on people who have cremated remains put into their Memorial Tattoos. The Comments Section for one of our Memorial Tattoo postings has morphed into a Q and A area for people who want to use created remains in a tattoo. I’m mentioning the tattoos and cremated remains because I know that people are fascinated by the concept.

So what And Vinyl is offering to do with cremated remains isn’t all that new but it is cool. The only problem that I have with the concept is this: I have no idea what record album I would choose and/or combination of songs. I’ve been thinking and thinking but I can’t come up with the perfect mix.

Anyway, the human-ash-pressed-into-vinyl story got me thinking about some of the other ways cremated remains are used to produce objects. These are just the ones I know about and could find. I even looked for companies putting cremated remains into glass bongs but I couldn’t find any. That said, I bet the entire cost of a Life Gem (please see below) that someone, somewhere is turning grandma’s ashes into a sweeeeeeeet smoker.

So, in no particular order we have:

Life Gem rings.

Customized Pencils

Ashes into Glass bowls, paperweights, and other designs.

Urns which look like YOUR HEAD.

Ashes which go into Space

Eternal Reefs and cremated remains in the ocean.

Fireworks which give ashes that rockets red glare feel.

Ashes into Art, which is similar to the Memorial Tattoos.

Huggable Urns in the shape of Teddy Bears. Wowza.

Hourglasses because like the sands….oh nevermind.

And remember: Most of these options also work for Pets. So that means you can have your pets’ created remains turned into a semi-precious stone, a memorial reef, and blasted into space.

I don’t know about the Head Urn but maybe.

Morbid Ink: Field Notes on the Human Memorial Tattoo
An Illustrated Lecture with Dr. John Troyer, Deputy Director, Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath
Date: Tuesday July 20th, 2010
Time: 8:00pm
Admission: $5

On Tuesday, July 20 I am giving a talk in Brooklyn on memorial tattoos. The talk, Morbid Ink: Field Notes on the Human Memorial Tattoo, focuses on research that I have been doing for a number of years. Many thanks to Joanna Ebenstein who runs the Morbid Anatomy Library for inviting me to speak.

The academic side of this research has really only taken place during the last year. But the tattoo side of my work started in 1994 when I got my first memorial tattoo for my maternal grandfather. Since 1994, I have gotten a tattoo for each of my grandparents, in the order of their deaths, down my spine. I went to the same tattoo artist for each of the tattoos, Awen Briem, and you can see her work at her studio Art With A point. In 2008, I got tattoos for both my parents (who are still alive) as a way of honoring them before they die. Each of these tattoos is a 1/4 long sleeve down both my left and right arms. Awen did an amazing job with these tattoos too.

All of this is to say that I have spent hours and hours (and more hours…) thinking and talking with Awen about why people get tattoos. It became apparent, based purely on Awen’s anecdotes, that memorial tattoos were becoming more and more common. In case you are looking for a definition, the Memorial Tattoo is most easily described as a tattoo which a person gets after someone they know dies. The deceased can be a good friend, a spouse, sibling, lover, etc. Now, the memorial tattoo can also be for a dead pet and I see this kind of tattoo more and more. Indeed, Awen ran some numbers and roughly 50% of her memorial tattoos are for pets. This all makes sense to me since pets became a companion species for humans long ago.

The talk on July 20th will discuss a variety of issues which I think memorial tattoos produce. Some of these issues include how meaning is assigned to a memorial tattoo, what marking a living body with representations of death entails, and current innovations in memorial tattooing.

I will also talk about the strange and peculiar avenues this particular research interest has taken me down. My favorite example is that the Death Reference Desk has itself become part of my research.

Last July, I posted an article on Death Ref about a gentleman who got cremated human remains mixed into the ink used for a memorial tattoo. As a result of that post, the Death Reference Desk has started receiving questions about the ins and outs of mixing cremated remains into tattoo ink.

And since Death Ref has always functioned as a reference desk, Meg, Kim and myself have responded to all the queries. Meg, in particular, has gone to great lengths to answer these questions and those responses are still available here: Using Cremains in Memorial Tattoos. You can also find more on memorial tattoos here.

It turns out that quite a few people have thought about/are thinking about mixing a pinch of human ash (almost always from the deceased) into the ink being used for a specific memorial tattoo.

I’m not surprised in the least. Within the logic of why people get memorial tattoos, it makes complete sense.

If you are in the Brooklyn area Tuesday and/or know someone who is, then send them to the Morbid Anatomy Library at 543 Union Street, Brooklyn, New York 11215 for the talk.

Cremation Association of North America (CANA) and International Association of Pet Cemeteries and Crematories (IAOPCC) Announce new Guidelines for Pet Cremation
Press Release, March 2010

Pet cremation is big business for human funeral homes looking to branch out into other industries. And normally I wouldn’t just trot out a press release for a Death Reference Desk post but this newly announce initiative about human and pet cremation groups coming together to produce guidelines really intrigued me.

Chicago, IL – The Cremation Association of North America (CANA), an international organization composed of cremationists, funeral directors, cemeterians, industry suppliers and consultants, and the International Association of Pet Cemeteries and Crematories, an international organization recognized as the authority in the pet aftercare industry, have been working together to develop industry guidelines for pet cremation practices.

The Press Release has two quote from each organization:

“There has been significant growth in pet cremation over that past ten years as families seek ways to appropriately memorialize a cherished pet,” said IAOPCC President Scott Hunter, “and at the same time owners want reassurance that the cremation facilities they use provide high quality services for their pets. By working with the Cremation Association of North America, we seek to establish standard industry terminology and practices for the proper respectful care of pets in memorial services.”

And:

CANA President Bill McQueen noted, “As the premiere organization focused on all aspects of cremation service, CANA has been pleased to work with the IAOPCC to extend our knowledge and experience into developing broad-based guidelines for pet cremation. CANA’s highly regarded crematory operator certification program and model laws for cremation have significant application to practices in pet memorialization. CANA takes pride in being the cremation solutions community and is pleased to work with IAOPCC to extend the reach of our community.”

So there you have it. Pet Cremations and Human Cremations will finally find common ground. And new terms will be invented too. That’s even better.

Actually, I totally support pet cremation and I think that people should handle the death of a pet as they see fit. The death of a pet can be more heart braking than the death of a human relative. My only concern is that these new agreed upon standards don’t create higher prices. That seems to happen too.

Springfield Man Selling Ad Space on His Urn
Laura Rillos, KVAL News

I have read many, many ridiculous death and dying stories over the years but this one is really amazing. The backstory itself isn’t ridiculous– it’s actually really sad and tragic.

KVAL News in Oregon can explain:

Given just months to live, Aaron Jamison has set his mind on two missions.

The first is to spread a message of hope. Jamison, who has terminal cancer, hands out purple bracelets that read “Cancer Sucks… Life is Good…Choose Joy” to people he meets.

The other mission is harder. Jamison wants to pay for his cremation and urn costs before he dies so his wife Kristin won’t have to worry about it.

His plan is to sell advertising space on two urns that will hold his ashes – one for his wife and one for his parents.

“I’m on different chemo now,” said Jamison, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of colon cancer. It has spread to his liver and lymph nodes. ” If it works, I’ve got about nine months. If it doesn’t work, I’ve got three. So I’m trying to get on the ball with the ad sales.”

So on the one hand we’ve got an inspirational story about a guy with terminal cancer trying to make sure that his wife isn’t stuck with an expensive funeral bill. On the other hand, and this is the part of the story that you have to dig a little bit to find, Aaron Jamison is also using the money to cover his medical bills. The medical bills that he can’t afford to pay because his health insurance doesn’t cover the costs.

Think about this for a minute. A person with cancer needs to sell ad space on his urn to pay off his medical bills. This is what I meant by ridiculous. The whole situation is also slightly infuriating.

What Jamison is doing reminds me of a conceptual art piece by The Art Guys, entitled SUITS: The Clothes Make the Man, in which they wore identical suits covered in corporate logos for a year (1998-1999). The Art Guys’ point was how commodified everything, including fashion, had become and it was funny.

Selling ad space on your future urn is clever but it isn’t particularly funny. And now that it’s clear a portion of the money will cover medical costs, I think that the whole situation is terrible.

Aaron Jamison has a website which he uses to update his ad space plan. I suggest checking it out.

Finally, here is a short video piece by KVAL News about Jamison and his urn:

A bull sarcophagus in which a member of the Ubud royal family was cremated burns during the funeral ceremony Tuesday July 15, 2008 in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Ed Wray)

What does a cremation sound like? Most of us in the Western world would be hard-pressed to answer that question. Cremation is something that takes place out of sight, and for most, out of mind. The fiery furnaces are lit, the body is rolled in and a few hours later, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. It is sterile, it is discreet and it is solitary.

But if you could hear it, what would it sound like? If you could see it, what would it look like? And, indeed, what would it smell like? Seattle visual and sound artist Jesse Paul Miller and his wife Linda Peschong, a photographer, visited southeast Asia in the early part of 2008. Planning to stay only until June, they were able to extend their stay in Bali an extra month. July in Bali is cremation season. And to their delight, the largest of such public ceremonies involving cremation of royal family members was about to begin.

What follows is the narrative of Jesse’s experiences while in Bali, retold here in his own voice. Through field recordings, you can experience the aural intensity of the cremation ceremony itself. The rich, sonic landscape features crowd noises, gamelans, drums and chanting as the procession takes place. Specific tracks of interest are noted at the end of the narrative.

Jesse Paul Miller:

July in Bali is cremation season. This is the month when it’s flooded by tourists, there to see cremation rituals. Cremation processions take place during other times of the year and one will undoubtedly see a procession any time they are visiting.

In all of the banjar (meeting places) around Ubud, people were creating spirit guide animals for others who were to be sent away in a mass cremation of 54 people on July 19. There was a 100-meter tower being constructed in the middle of the town for the big ceremony on July 15. During the first couple of weeks in July we watched as the creation of these guides and the tower grew. Every day, large groups of people worked on building them by carving and cutting paper and other materials into beautiful patterns. Alongside this they were creating many kinds of smaller offerings. The Balinese are incredible artists and craftspeople.

When a person dies in Bali, they are sent away according to the rules of the Balinese Hindu Trimurti. Many things in Bali are done with specific reasons in mind and in threes. Black, white, and red represent Brahma (the deep base of all knowing energy of the universe god), Wisnu (the god of life and existence), and Siwa (the god of death and rebirth). Accordingly, after a person passes away, they are buried for five years in the earth so that this part of their body and spirit may go back to the earth. Then, their bodies are exhumed, and carried in the aforementioned processions with their guardian animal (bull, dragon, fish, tiger), and burned, so that this part of their spirit goes to the skies or heaven. After the body is burned, the bones are gathered, made into a mini version of the deceased and ceremonially wrapped and brought to the sea for that part of the spirit to join the ocean. If royalty, they even do a fourth part where some part of the body is brought to the top of the mountain, the holiest place.

The cremation of royal family members Tjokorda Gde Agung Suyasa, Tjokorda Gede Raka, and ashes of Desak Raka became international news due to the importance of this ceremony. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has a terrific archive here.

The day of the procession, the small town of Ubud became inundated with thousands of people and press from all around the world. We arrived on the street four hours earlier, stood and waited while it became more and more packed with people, until we were sandwiched up on a little ledge against a wall, while more filled in.

They had cut power lines so the tower could move down the street. Alongside this, people were completely packed in, 1 street wide, 2km long, 30 thousand people. It was dense indeed! The procession happened very quickly, and with an overwhelming human energy that I can’t really describe, but which must be felt. Gamelan baleganjur, or marching gamelan troupes preceded. These were first designed for battle but now used for cremations to frighten bad spirits.

Neighboring village groups, wearing matching polo shirts emblazoned with village-specific logos walked the giant bull, dragon, and finally the massive tower with a priest in a trance at the top and the body by us and down the 2 km road to the cremation site. The various groups passed along these big objects. It is said that it’s impossible to carry the tower, due to the weight, but that the spirits of the dead help the living carry it. The manifestation of energy was truly powerful. As they approached, there were ecstatic shouts from everyone and the charging gamelans ahead of them. It all went by very fast.

That evening, we watched the Burning of the Bull. Mobbed with international photographers and press, Balinese royalty, foreigners and citizens, this area was packed. Before the burning, a man said on the speaker system “Be very careful! It can get crazy!” When they burned the bull, big pieces of molten fabric drifted down, sending people scattering. At the end, we watched men blast the bodies with flame torches to clean the bones.

Four days later, we experienced a less hyped and more traditional cremation ceremony, in the graveyard within the sacred monkey forest in Ubud. Every 5 years, groups of people are cremated. In this case, there were 54 people in their attendant animal (the ones we had witnessed people creating all month), all lined up in a relatively small area.

If a family is too poor to have a member cremated, the community has a pool of money to help so that everyone gets sent to the gods in equal manner. To one side of this long and narrow plot was a fenced off area with an open building, segmented, with each body in one. There was a priest incanting over a loudspeaker; the crowds of people who came to witness and the families were wearing ceremonial sarongs. At one end of the fenced-off area perhaps 3 or 4 gamelans were arrayed. On these, children were allowed to play whatever they wanted. The sounds created were an abstract and confusing mash of all kinds of bell sounds. I think of it as ‘free gamelan’ (as in ‘free jazz’). I wondered if this was done for a spiritual manner, but people there said it was just so the children could have fun. It added a beautiful and surreal audio background to everything. Over this a man would call out the family name in the speaker system.

Then, the family would escort the body, beautifully wrapped to the animal. Next, with the aid of a priest they would give small offerings to the deceased–little bits of food and other sundries to bring along for their use in the afterlife. When this was done, they were all burned at once. Groups of people sang traditional songs around small offerings, and a cloud of nasty black smoke wafted over everyone. Afterwards, the fire truck arrived with a hose, watering down the remains. Finally, they placed small white bamboo frame fabric boxes and placed them over the remains.

This day, as all days in Bali, was chosen according to the Balinese calendar. This day was Kajeng Kliwon, the day of every month when there’s a full moon. This day to the Balinese is the day the bridge is narrowest between life and death, making it easiest for the spirit to pass to the next world. That night, all of the dogs howled and barked like mad into the night, more than any other night we spent in our two months in Bali.

I found the cremation rituals in Bali (as well as all of their culture) to be incredibly refreshing. They’re a living demonstration of living life without fear of death. Balinese don’t worry; they’re Hindu-Buddhist and will be re-born again! They have developed their passing rituals into something flowing, beautiful, disciplined, and celebratory.

People carry the black bull sarcophagus and a tower prior to the Balinese royals cremation ceremony in Ubud, Bali ilsand on July 15, 2008. (BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)

Audio tracks of interest (Limited edition CDs are available for purchase):

The big cremation procession (track 13)
Children playing the gamelan at the mass cremation (track 12)
The hosing down of burnt sarcophagi with fire truck hose after burning at the mass cremation (track 2)

To properly describe every aspect of my experience, I’d need to write a book. If you’re interested in finding more about Balinese death rituals and all other aspects of the world of the Balinese, I highly recommend the excellent and thorough Bali: Sekala & Niskala, by Fred B. Eiseman, Jr., vols. 1 & 2

A beautiful book of photos, Vanishing Presence, by Linda Peschong documents our travels to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, and Japan.

Hindu Wins Northumberland Funeral Pyre Battle
BBC News (February 10, 2010)

Hindu Man Wins Court Battle for Open-Air Cremation Pyre
Matthew Taylor The Guardian (February 10, 2010)

It has been a big week for cremation in the UK. On Wednesday, Davender Ghai, a 71-year old Hindu man from Newcastle won a landmark court case on Appeal. The Ghai case is fairly straightforward: when he dies, he wants to be cremated on an open air pyre, as opposed to inside an industrial grade crematorium furnace. Mr. Ghai is a devout Hindu so his request is grounded in religious reasons.

When Mr. Ghai first made the request in 2006, he was told ‘No’ by Newcastle officials. He then took his case to the UK Courts and kept losing until this most recent decision.

I am providing an extremely rushed explanation of the case. Burning through it, you might say. The Guardian and BBC News articles at the top explain the case history. I also wrote about Mr. Ghai’s case a few weeks ago on the Death Reference Desk.

So let’s skip ahead to why the Ghai case is important. Two important questions were pondered by the Appeals Court: 1.) What is a building, as stipulated in the 1902 Cremation Act? And, 2.) Does the mere thought of an open air pyre cause the general public mental anguish?

The Guardian does an excellent job summing up the Government’s case :

The Ministry of Justice had opposed his case, arguing that the law stipulated cremations must be within a building – which in this case meant a structure bounded by walls with a roof – and the high court upheld the ruling last May.

Today Jonathan Swift, for the government, argued that what Ghai was proposing did not comply with the law, which was there to protect “decorum and decency”. But the appeal judges said the aims of the Cremation Act were to ensure that cremations were subject to uniform rules throughout the country and carried out in buildings that were ­appropriately equipped and away from homes or roads. The judges accepted that Ghai was willing to be cremated within existing rules with his funeral pyre “enclosed in a structure” and ruled that the ministry’s definition of a building was too narrow.

In a nutshell, Davender Ghai agreed to a pyre enclosed by four walls (with no ceiling) and his lawyers demonstrated that his request didn’t cause the general public mental angst. Indeed, it seems to me that this form of ‘natural cremation’ (a term cleverly invented by Mr. Ghai’s legal team) will have a huge appeal to all the natural and green burial people in the UK. How that gets managed is an entirely different question, since Mr. Ghai made his request based upon religious reasons.

More than anything, this case demonstrates that supposedly immutable death laws can be challenged and changed to encompass the world’s religions. And in the case of Mr. Ghai, his request faithfully follows the law.

Watch this video to see Devander’s Ghai’s happiness with the decision. I have never been happier for an individual’s eventual death…

Funeral Pyres judgment Reserved
BBC News (January 18, 2010)

Hindu Fights for Open-Air Cremation
UKPA (January 17, 2010)

Last week, a really interesting and potentially important court case appeared before a British Appeals Court. A British Hindu man, Davender Ghai, wants permission from the Newcastle City government to have his body cremated on an open air pyre.

Here is the BBC’s background on the story:

Davender Ghai, 70, was seeking to overturn a decision by Newcastle City Council in 2006 preventing such pyres.

He believes they are essential to “a good death” and the release of the spirit into the afterlife. Judges at the Court of Appeal said that all he had to show was that what he wanted fell within existing law. In February 2006 Mr Ghai, from Gosforth, Newcastle, and the founder of the Anglo-Asian Friendship Society

(AAFS), was refused a permit for an open-air cremation site in a remote part of Northumberland. Newcastle City Council said the burning of human remains anywhere outside a crematorium was prohibited under the 1902 Cremation Act, a ruling the Ministry of Justice agreed was correct.

There are several interesting angles to this story. First and foremost, every reason that the UK Courts have given as to why the open air cremations should not go forward is suspicious. Health and safety concerns can be easily monitored and controlled. Indeed, a health and safety officer could be dispatched to make sure that the law was followed and that the public health codes were not violated.

Perhaps the most significant (and unspoken) reason that the UK Courts have sided against Mr. Ghai is squeamishness. Given the fact that any number of UK Death Professionals (and I know of which I speak) could make sure that any open air cremation followed any and every conceivable best practice, the resulting reason seems to be that Court officials find the basic concept distasteful.

Unfortunately, that is not a legal reason to ultimately block Mr. Ghai’s funeral pyre wish.

The Appeals Court is expected to rule later in 2010.

Aurora Casket Company Trying to Stop Cremations with Video
R. Brian Burkhardt, YourFuneralGuy (January 25, 2010)

YourFuneralGuy just found a gem: it seems the Aurora Casket Company, one of the big three casket manufacturers in the United States, made a video of a mock funeral for direct cremation, the very villain encroaching on and slowly killing their market.

It’s dry, earnest and, well, pretty awful:

The Death of Direct Cremation from Aurora on Vimeo.

I do applaud the intention — I just hope they’re laughing, too. Whatever some marketing blog or fifteen year old told them, the internet will not save the casket industry… this time.

Bath Cemetery Refused to Cremate Man Because He Was Too Heavy
The Bath Chronicle (December 14, 2009)

Every once in a while, a dead body story brings home the following point: all the issues that surround the living world don’t entirely stop when a person dies. Indeed, funeral directors and crematorium operators encounter most aspects of the human condition but out of sight. And most certainly out of mind.

So, it came to pass, that a UK man weighing 40 stone (560 pounds) died and he wanted to be cremated. Once he was in his coffin, his total weight became 50 stone (700 pounds) and the local crematorium said that they couldn’t take his corpse because of his size. The crematorium is in Bath (where I live) and the story was reported by both The Bath Chronicle and the BBC (Obese 40-stone Somerset man ‘too heavy to cremate’).

You can read either article for the full details. Here’s the thing: this isn’t a new problem, or at least, it has been an ever increasing problem for the last ten years. In 2003, the New York Times ran the following article on Goliath Casket Company: On the Final Journey, One Size Doesn’t Fit All. Here is the gist of the article:

Perhaps nowhere is the issue of obesity in America more vividly illustrated than at Goliath Casket of Lynn, Ind., specialty manufacturers of oversize coffins.

There one can see a triple-wide coffin — 44 inches across, compared with 24 inches for a standard model. With extra bracing, reinforced hinges and handles, the triple-wide is designed to handle 700 pounds without losing what the euphemism-happy funeral industry calls its ”integrity.”

When Keith and Julane Davis started Goliath Casket in the late 1980′s, they sold just one triple-wide each year. But times, along with waistlines, have changed; the Davises now ship four or five triple-wide models a month, and sales at the company have been increasing around 20 percent annually. The Davises say they base their design specifications not on demographic studies so much as on simple observations of the world around them.

”It’s just going to local restaurants or walking in a normal Wal-Mart,” Mrs. Davis said. ”People are getting wider and they’re getting thicker.”

And even though the owners of Goliath Casket Company made these observations at the local Wal-Mart, supersized dead bodies are an increasingly common UK phenomena.

In fact, The Guardian newspaper printed the following article in 2006: Obesity is undertakers’ fresh burden.

I totally understand why the crematorium officials at the Haycombe Cemetery and Crematorium initially declined to cremate the 40 stone dead body: lifting and transporting XXXL dead bodies is potentially dangerous for the workers. Lifting an object that heavy can cause back injuries. 50 stone weightlifting (remember that that’s 700 pounds) is best left to the gym.

In the end, everything worked out because the funeral home got hold of a special cart built for transporting large dead bodies.

And this is the moral of the story: as human waistlines increase so does the demand for heavy load bearing dead body equipment.

XXXL dead bodies translate into supersized profits for some death industry sectors.

Dying to Be Green? Try “Bio-Cremation”
Nicole Mordant, Reuters (December 1, 2009)

There’s a shiny new final disposition in town, attempting to gain ground on the green burial bandwagon: Resomation, developed in Scotland in 2007, also known as bio-cremation or the dreadfully ambiguous “Water Resolution.”

Cremation is consistently flogged for its high energy consumption and resulting pollutants. Bio-cremation, on the other hand, uses “less than a tenth of the amount of natural gas and a third of the electricity,” by means of a chemical process involving alkaline hydrolysis.

From the Reuters article,

In alkaline hydrolysis the body is submerged in water in a stainless steel chamber. Heat, pressure and potassium hydroxide, chemicals used to make soap and bleach, are added to dissolve the tissue.

Two hours later all that’s left is some bone residue and a syrupy brown liquid that is flushed down the drain. The bones can be crushed and returned to the family as with cremation.

This last bit seems to be the only real relation to cremation: loved ones receive a packet of bone fragments, or “bone shadow” as the Water Res folks most creepily call it, which people may bury, memorialize on the mantle, put into tattoos, shoot into space, fire into diamonds, et cetera.

Wait, did that say the syrupy brown liquid of death is flushed down the drain? Indeed it does. Resomated bodies are as natural as any other human waste we routinely put through the pipes. Predictably, this makes some people uncomfortable, such as Catholics, who thwarted a move to introduce bio-cremation in New York a couple years ago, citing it “not a respectful way to dispose of human remains.”

Fair enough, though just as arguably, cremation or burial are not respectful ways of treating the earth. Given the significant energy savings and pollution avoidance, environmentalism may very well prevail — plus, you can retrieve and recycle metal parts, like hip and knee replacements. I just hope they can settle on a name that isn’t obtuse, misleading or trademarked.