GardenStateFool,

I've got a similar division going on. Yes it's nice to want to help and give people a send off but it's not like the alternative is to drop them in a dumpster.

But I'm also an atheist and on top of them am opposed to many modern burial practices: embalming, sealed caskets, etc. because of the environmental harm (chemicals, tying up land for nothing more then storing the dead). The fact that the funeral home in the article is refusing to do cremation (the cheapest option) because "the family might come claim the body" strikes me wrong. First, I'm sure there were already attempts to find the family to claim the body. Second, why do the people who didn't pay for the funeral get that level of consideration? Third, is there some reason they can't claim ashes in a nice wooden box?

Now if a group was taking the unclaimed bodies and giving them green burials in a nature preserve I'd gladly send a check.

Lara Amber