Monday, May 2, 2011

Future Death: The Dead Human Body as Biomass (Extra Credit)

Reposted To Make Sure That You, Andy, Check It            


            Dr. John Troyer was at the Brooklyn observatory located in Nevins St. on April 19th, 2011. He gave a lecture on Death as a Biomass to an astonishingly small crowd. Dr. Troyer looked like one of those people who could get the attention of the audience he addressing without even asking for the attention. This was probably because of his tough guy/chill dude attire. He is built like a street fighter but wore a well ironed coat with polished dress shoes, and to top it off, he wore a pair of wise-owl glasses. He works for an organization called CDAS illusion where he basically works with dead bodies and also the dying. The crematorium he works in, Haycombe, is located in the South West of England, in a city called Bath but he was born in the United States as he humorously pointed out with the absence of a British accent. 


            One of the first slides that he presented in the lecture was of the URL: http://deathreferencedesk.org/. Which is a website that was created by librarians and its readers are able to find any and all information about death and the aftermath. A fascinating website in my opinion, on a side not for Andy, if you are still pursuing the idea for a “everything about birth” website, we should use Dr. Troyer’s site as a model. The site basically contains what he talked about in the lecture but in greater detail plus a lot more, although visiting the site is hardly a better alternative than listing to the lecture, on the site you cannot listen to his colorful commentary. As he went on with the lecture, his slides became progressively more statistically evidence heavy. That was a good idea because in the beginning, I was a bit skeptical about his claims. 


            His main argument was whether we should start using cremation emissions as a power source. He argued for but I am very doubtful whether that will ever happen because of the simple moral implications. Who would want their loved one’s remains powering up a stranger’s computer? Not many people. So that argument was soon dropped but replaced with a similar one. An Alkaline Hydrolysis machine. Its function is remarkable simple and similar to that of cremation but it is more than 200% cleaner. An Alkaline Hydrolysis machine heats up and pressurizes the body with the help of water and alkali which then speeds up decomposition. The commercial version of Alkaline Hydrolysis is a bio-cremation process known as Resomation .This automated process is dignified, takes only 2-3 hours and the ash is returned to relatives/loved ones in an urn as  in traditional cremation. The main advantages of Resomation over cremation are the excellent eco-credentials, both in terms of energy saving and carbon footprint reduction. As soon as he made the “it’s greener” argument, I knew he had convinced almost everyone if not everyone in the audience that Resomation would be the future of taking care of the dead.

HW 49 - Comments on Best of Your Break HW

From Sarah M, (Commented on HW 46 ) <-- Correct Blog
I like that you weren't afraid to state your own opinion on the matter and that your opinion of funerals was very different from the norm. I also liked that you included your own experiences of different cultures. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences that other countries share with ours in terms of caring for the dead. 


From Johnny, (Commented on HW 48 )
I enjoyed reading this blog(although it was a little too long). I also enjoyed how as you were interviewing your mom and uncle you kept thinking about what they said to of course gain insight but also learn more about them. I also
valued how you quoted what the people you interviewd said.

From Sarah T, (Commented on HW 48 )
Abdullah,
I enjoyed hearing about your families different beliefs on the matter of death. the question you asked was, What to do with bodies after there is a massive death tole?
You notated that you thought it was suppressing that one of your family members answered with:
“People should look at resolving the crisis instead of looking at moral beliefs and religious beliefs. If you do not have time or the man-power to figure out what everyone that died believed in, you don’t have to do it. Mass burials or even mass cremations should be executed.”

What aspect of that response suppressed you?

Over all your writing and analysis was extremely thoroughly written.  

From Christian, (Commented on HW 48 )
Abdullah,

Your post had good points on the depiction of contrasting beliefs on taking care of the dead that one can really relate to. You share the point of view between both of your interviewee's that death is not something to be afriad of, "only because it's another stage in life." which I found we could problematize because by definition life is the distinguishing factor which seperates living organisms from inorganic objects(dead organisms). One question I would like to add to how your Uncle responded which you also found a "little weird" is that being dead is not another stage in life, its the complete opposite which you breifly explain by scaring those who answer that they're "not afraid of dying..." by rewording it to be "ceasing to exist."

Interesting Post!
Christian  

From Protoge, (Commented on HW 46 ) <-- Correct Blog
I find it intresting on your views of care fir the dead based off your cultural orientation. you gave an insight on your views and I liked the way you brought in your personal connections with your experiences I can relate to the banned Hindu practies. Which I have gone through myself.
~ davendra
 

From Mentor,
If you notice, the most wanted terrorist (Osama bin Laden) who was killed in a US operation inside Pakistan on May 01, 2011 was shown all respect to his dead body by burring him with general rituals of Muslim people. Although many people who know Laden might have desired to attend his funeral and obviously for security reasons that was not possible to be allowed. This is the respect for diversity that we must demonstrate in our daily life.

Dead person might be known to many people and some might want to see the dead body and pay respect during his/her burial or may whish to pay condolences to rest of family members. The value of such expressions is not small, in fact all of us will die and I always will wish my dead body gets proper respect.

I liked your bold opinion about private ceremony, which might be preferable by many and again many surely will wish to join the public ceremony.

You will see if a renowned person, like a great singer (Michael Jackson?), a former President of the US, or a writer or head of state when dies hundred or thousands of people who loved the deceased would spontaneously join the funeral. People tend to express their respect/ love by joining such public congregation.

I would suggest you value respect of diversity in all aspects of your life and also bring those thoughts in your writing. Especially remember:
- We work and live with people from many backgrounds
- We must treat all people with dignity and respect.
- Treat men and women equally.
- Show respect for, and understanding of, diverse points of view and demonstrate this understanding in daily work.
- Examine own biases and behaviors to avoid stereotypical responses.
- Do not discriminate against any individual or group

I am sure you will work and think on the above points and will shape your ideas accordingly. All the best,

---------------------------------------
For Sarah M,
I liked the fact that you chose to interview someone that had a very real experience with death. It made your blog a more interesting to read since the information was from a subjective and objective source. I think if you explained more about what your thoughts were from the interviews and what were some of the insights that you took away from the interview. It would have also been better if you had said if the interviews had changed the way you thought about death or if your previous thoughts were strengthened.

For Johnny,
I found it interesting that you wrote about your experiences coming from a religious family. I think you're different experiences as when you were a little kid to now is very prosaic. I like your idea of crying being contagious since I have experienced similar instances in my life before.