Recommendation: Must watch "Get Fresh With Sara Snow"...
One More Day...
Artsy Ideas...
Recommendation:
If you have cable TV and get the Discovery Health Channel, I highly recommend watching the "Get Fresh With Sara Snow" show. This evening as I was finishing up a knitting project, her show came on. Well.... The first topic she touched on was "Natural Burials". Finally, the ole pine box may be making a come back! Who thought it would be in fashion to be buried in a pine box, or wicker casket, eco-pod (recycled paper casket) or even a cotton/hemp shroud (ohhh, think of the design possibilities!)? Yes! It's true! Natural Burials are becoming the "in thing".
The following statistics really woke me up, and made me pay more attention to what we're doing to the earth, via the remains of our beloved Uncle Harry and Great Granny Gubbins.
Natural burial uses a minimum of chemicals and natural resources while maintaining a strong connection with the earth for the deceased and surviving family and friends. In contrast, consider that EACH YEAR the 22,500 conventional cemeteries in the United States bury;
827,060 gallons of embalming fluid, which includes formaldehyde
formaldehyde is known to be a carcinogen... decomposition? drainage from vault? ground water and soil? hello?
Did you know that formaldehyde is not required in a burial? Because of refrigeration and dry ice, a body can be kept till the day of the burial. Of course, if you're a voyeur and need to see Uncle Harry all made up, then the formaldehyde will keep him looking fresh as the day he died. ugh
30-plus million board feet of hardwoods (Caskets)
That's 325,000+ trees PER year... if my math is correct- grin.
90,272 tons of steel (Caskets)
14,000 tons of steel (Vaults)
2,700 tons of copper and bronze (Caskets)
1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete (Vaults)
... And vaults that drain out the bottom can cause toxins and heavy metals from to go into the ground, and sometimes ground water, at much higher levels than if they were not used.
(Compiled from statistics by Casket and Funeral Association of America, Cremation Association of North America, Doric Inc., The Rainforest Action Network, and Mary Woodsen, Pre-Posthumous Society)
Being buried the "natural" way, in an earth friendly cemetery, can cost less then half of the least expensive "normal" ($6,000 to $10,000+... funny what we call normal) burial. As I don't think most of us are buried with valuable artifacts, and wearing every piece of gold jewelry ever given to us, I'm not sure a reinforced concrete vault is really necessary, but cemeteries require them... even though there's not one state in the USA that requires a vault. Of course, it's even cheaper to be cremated. Interesting, aye?
On a side note... over the years Fr. Tony has seen parishioners go through much heartache at the hands of a funeral director, and has joked about how he wished he could open a simple business selling pine boxes. Who'd of known he was on to something?
OK, enough of my morbid green talk. I've been meaning to mention to you all about Sara's show. She makes "thinking green" a realistic thing to do. She's not a hard core vegan, or anything like that... So, check her out. CLICK HERE for more info about Sara and show times.
Interesting Links on the topic of Natural Burials:
ONE MORE DAY:
Darling hubby will be home tomorrow... and guess who has not finished most of what she wanted to accomplish? Yep! sigh
ARTSY STUFF:
I didn't get much of my sewing done, but finished up a couple of knit bags I'm getting ready to felt. I got the Messenger Bag pattern transfered to muslin fabric, and ready to go. Have sorted out the fabrics I'll be using. Now, to pin, cut and sew! While sitting at the computer waiting for either of my girls to show up, I did do a few more sketchy ideas for bags. See below.
A friend asked if I could do a Messenger Bag with a baseball theme.
This one will be GREAT fun to make, as I'm an avid gardener. I love to have my hands in the dirt! Must be why I always enjoyed being a potter, aye?
Another African Bag... Variation on a theme.
It's getting late, and there are things to do. Stay warm, and be careful if you're going out... we've had more snow!
