People have a right to have their corpses treated with dignity, and the bereaved should be able to remember their loved ones long after their passing. However, the harm the funeral industry does to the environment cannot be ignored.
In conjunction with a shift towards less polluting methods of disposition of remains, I believe all nations should feature opt-out organ donation systems rather than opt-in ones. In addition to the benefits this would have on patients requiring organs, this could help people stop fixating on the sanctity of corpses (especially when you may not have cared all that much about the person), and dismantle stigma around discussing death. People might really be amenable to getting rid of anti-ecological death practices, if only we start to talk about it: they need to know there are options that don’t involve being mounted in formaldehyde like bugs, or being reduced to ash and dumped in an urn for your family to forget about.
this is deffinetly an interesting point of view but it is also such a drastic change as compared to the current norms. Any ideas on how we could go about shifting this norm?
I love this interpretation! I think having more organ donations from deceased bodies and less burials would be of more use to society in a two-fold way, as environmentally-taxing funerals would be prevented more frequently and patients that require organs would have an easier time receiving them from donors.
I love the idea of opt-out organ donation systems rather than opt-in ones!!
I agree that an opt-out system would be much more beneficial for our fellow humans and the planet! I think that saving a life is much more dignified than being pumped full of chemicals!