{"id":12528,"date":"2022-11-17T19:49:43","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T08:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/?p=12528"},"modified":"2022-11-17T19:49:43","modified_gmt":"2022-11-17T08:49:43","slug":"thinking-outside-the-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/17\/thinking-outside-the-box\/","title":{"rendered":"Thinking outside the box"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mp_wrapper\">\n  <div class=\"mepr-unauthorized-excerpt\">\n    <p>Editor\u2019s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au. See our\u00a0Publishing Guidelines.\nDear Editor\nThe RSA Daily for 31 October included an article titled, \u2018Coffin? Casket? Cremation? How to make your death more environmentally friendly\u2019, taken from The Conversation.\nThe elaborate and expensive containers in common use retard the process of decomposition of bodies and occupy valuable land that's becoming scarce in some areas. The timber from which coffins and caskets are made, plus the metal hinges and handles, are too valuable a resource to be disposed of, wastefully, as we do. Global population increases will only exacerbate this problem.\nFortunately, Australia hasn\u2019t (yet) reached the excesses of the US, as satirised in the Tom Paxton song Forest Lawn.\nThe article suggests solutions, but several others are available.\nWe could choose to think of the human body as simply a container that holds the person while alive, effectively preventing the contents from spilling out over the floor. But, post-mortem, the body is akin to an empty beer bottle. So let\u2019s try to get some further use from it.\nMany years ago I decided to donate my body for the use of medical students. At the end of my useful \u2018afterlife\u2019, any remains will be cremated and the ashes will be disposed of at the discretion of the university. (There was an option for the ashes to be presented to my daughters, but we jointly decided against that.) For r...<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n  <div class=\"mepr-unauthorized-message\">\n    <hr style=\"width: 100%;max-width: 1000px !important;height: 5px;border-width: 0;color: red;background-color: red\" \/>\n<div style=\"text-align: center\">\n<h3><em>You're part way through this article. Want to keep reading?<\/em><\/h3>\n<h4><em>Only members of the Rationalist Society of Australia can read our Premium articles.\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n<h3 style=\"height: 20px\"><span style=\"color: #c83200\"><em><a style=\"color: #c83200\" href=\"https:\/\/rationalist.com.au\/membership\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Become a member today.<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<h4><em>Already a member? 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