By Khalifa Hemed
Published August 7, 2019
People in Kenya appear to be both shocked and awed by two high profile individuals whose bodies have been cremated instead of being buried as per convention in this largely religious eastern African country. Though death isn’t a popular subject in Kenya, we can as well discuss it in the context of the cremation of Robert William Collymore, former Chief Executive Officer of Safaricom PLC, and Kenneth Odhiambo Okoth, former Member of Parliament for Kibra Constituency, that took place, respectively, in July and August 2019.
Perhaps there is no better way to attempt a description of how humans dispose of the bodies of their kin than a look at cultural history. Like everything else in life, available records show that the methods of disposing of human corpses or cadavers are determined by factors like time, location, context and culture or the sum total of a people’s existence. Once people are educated into their place in human history, they view life as a work in progress and not as a destination without precedent.
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Well, what would you like done with your body once you no longer need it, and what informs your decision?
If you choose burial, then perhaps you are already aware that the corpse, in a process known as embalming, is injected with chemicals like formaldehyde, phenol, methanol, and glycerin to delay decay, mask offensive odours, facilitate viewing during funeral and enable transportation prior to being buried at least six feet into the earth.
Some of the disadvantages of burial include:
- embalming chemicals leach into groundwater
- high concentration of formaldehyde kills humans
- formaldehyde fumes irritate the eyes, nose, and throat
- Phenol is toxic if ingested
- Methyl alcohol and glycerin irritate the eyes, skin, nose, and throat
- wood coffins lead to deforestation and environmental degradation
- funerals are expensive (undertaker and cemetery fees, a burial vault, flowers, clothing, transportation, feeding and and accommodating mourners, etc)
- many cemeteries in larger cities around the world are running out of permanent space. In Tokyo, for example, Wikipedia says that traditional burial plots are extremely scarce and expensive and that a space crisis in Britain’s London has led to the proposal that old graves be reopened for “double-decker” burials. Some German cities are now leasing and not selling plots for burial. “When the lease expires,” Wikipedia says, “the remains are disinterred and a specialist bundles the bones, inscribes the forehead of the skull with the information that was on the headstone, and places the remains in a special crypt.”
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Over to cremation, a process in which extremely high temperature, vaporisation, and oxidation turn cadavers to basic chemical compounds, such as gases, ashes and mineral fragments.
Here, cremated remains may be buried or they may be retained by relatives and dispersed in any way they wish.
Though cremation provides portability of cremains, making it possible for surviving family members to easily take them with them should they choose to relocate, cremation isn’t necessarily cheaper than burial. If done on a budget, kern.humdrum.net says, cremation can be cheaper than burial. “Many people opt for the traditional embalming and visiting services before the cremation takes place. There are many people who even prefer the cremated remains to be buried at a cemetery plot or placed in a columbarium and even plan a detailed memorial service where they spend huge amount of money on flowers, food and memorial gifts,” kern.humdrum.net says. “Due to these additional funeral services, the actual cost of cremation can go much higher.”
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If the remains are buried in a cemetery grave space has to be purchased and headstone or grave marker installation paid for just like in ground burial.
So, yes; choosing cremation with related services costs more than choosing direct cremation.
On the more negative side, “Each cremation uses about 110 L of fuel and releases about 240 kg of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Thus, the roughly 1 million bodies that are cremated annually in the United States produce about 240,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. That’s more CO2 pollution than 22,000 average American homes generate in a year,” Wikipedia says.
- many cremation facilities spew carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, fine soot, sulfur dioxide, heavy metals, and mercury emissions from dental fillings into the atmosphere, and
- cremated ashes do not supply nutrients back into the earth.
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Apart from flame cremation just described above, you may also consider another type of cremation known variously as Liquid Cremation, Green cremation, Bio-cremation, Alkaline hydrolysis or Resomation in which the cadaver is placed in a pressurized stainless steel chamber along with water and an alkali solution of potassium hydroxide, then heated like traditional cremation with similar results.
Dissolution, that turns the corpse into a solution that could be drained away in a sewer system is similar to flame and liquid cremation. In dissolution, an acid or a solution of lye is used in breaking down a body, followed by disposal as liquid, according to Wikipedia.
“Advocates claim the process is more environmentally friendly than both cremation and burial … On the other hand, many find the idea of being ‘poured down the drain’ to be undignified,” Wikipedia says.
