New idea: Leave a Tree Behind (Instead of a Tombstone)

Started by WogglebugLovingFilms, December 14, 2016, 06:54:56 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

WogglebugLovingFilms

I happened to find a Facebook post (I can't recall which group or page it was from) some time ago that posed this new idea of leaving behind a tree instead of a tombstone after we die. It works like this, first be cremated and then have the ashes buried along with a tree seed of your choice and then (at least when the tree has reached its full growth) you will have left behind a tree as your marker of your life instead of a desolate tombstone. I personally found this idea to be very intriguing, and to have merit to it. I mean, the comparison seems to make the one more preferable seem obvious. 
"We are of the Universe. No Gods Needed."

"Your Mind is a Garden. Your Thoughts are the Seeds. You Can Grow Flowers or You Can Grow Weeds."

"Always Remember Your Current Situation is Not the Final Destination. The Best is Yet to Come."

Recusant

"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Asmodean

I'm leaving behind a pile of ash and a slab of pavement - out of pure spite.
Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on July 25, 2013, 08:18:52 PM
In Asmo's grey lump,
wrath and dark clouds gather force.
Luxembourg trembles.

Arturo

I actually want to do this, but have not have my body burned.
It's Okay To Say You're Welcome
     Just let people be themselves.
     Arturo The1  リ壱

xSilverPhinx

I'd love for my ashes to be buried under a bonsai. :tellmemore:

There's just something about mini trees.
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Arturo

Quote from: xSilverPhinx on December 17, 2016, 07:56:03 PM
I'd love for my ashes to be buried under a bonsai. :tellmemore:

There's just something about mini trees.

Ha at one point I wanted my remains to be used to grow peyote but I've abandoned the idea now that I no longer talk to drug users.
It's Okay To Say You're Welcome
     Just let people be themselves.
     Arturo The1  リ壱

No one


Icarus

I am on board with that idea.  A tree will be far kinder and far more valuable to the earth than a brass, marble, or granite tombstone......    I doubt that my ashes would  provide much nourishment for a tree but lets have the tree any way. Bury my ashes along with a fish or some other contribution to the soil.

Dragonia

I can't believe I missed this thread. I am fascinated by the different things one can do with a loved ones' ashes. And this is probably the one I would choose for myself. I'd like to be in the country, and maybe have a fruit tree planted on top of me, so that maybe a teeny weeny part of me could feed a bird or house some bees or whatever.
Or i could just get thrown in the trash. I'll be dead. I won't much care!
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~ Plato (?)

Mr. B

Quote from: No one on December 17, 2016, 11:56:16 PM
I prefer to rot where I drop.

Me too. I used to joke that when it was close to my time to die (if it be by slow natural causes) I would just wander off into the woods and let the earth reclaim me. At least, I said it jokingly. For me, it wasn't a joke.

I don't want my body to be pumped full of formaldehyde and entombed in an impenetrable box.  I want my body to become one with the earth as soon as possible without adding pollution to the environment. However, I really like the idea of planting a tree instead of a tombstone.

I am reminded of the tradition of the Pequeninos from the Ender's Game series.

Fathertrees.

Sounds backwards and superstitious from a sci-fi novel perspective but it makes sense to me. So, yeah...put a tree seed in my corpse and let it grow.

Two thumbs up.

http://enderverse.wikia.com/wiki/Pequeninos
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" - Evelyn Beatrice Hall

Dragonia

Enders Game: my very very favorite sci-fi series ever. My cousin loved it so much, she named her first born son Ender.

And as for more natural means of after-death care, there's a growing movement of people wanting no embalming, no treatment, just being left for nature to reclaim, either by burial (that's actually good for the earth) or cremation. If you're at all interested, you should check out Caitlyn Doughty on YouTube. She's a funeral director in L.A. (I think), doing alternative care for the dead. She's entertaining and inspirational and educational. I want to be her.
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~ Plato (?)

Mr. B

Thanks Dragonia, I'll check it out. Disposal of my body is something that I have given serious thought to. I simply do not like the current traditional options.

Still, a cemetery full of trees is a beautiful thought.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" - Evelyn Beatrice Hall

Arturo

Quote from: Dragonia on February 08, 2017, 03:32:05 AM
Enders Game: my very very favorite sci-fi series ever. My cousin loved it so much, she named her first born son Ender.

And as for more natural means of after-death care, there's a growing movement of people wanting no embalming, no treatment, just being left for nature to reclaim, either by burial (that's actually good for the earth) or cremation. If you're at all interested, you should check out Caitlyn Doughty on YouTube. She's a funeral director in L.A. (I think), doing alternative care for the dead. She's entertaining and inspirational and educational. I want to be her.

That's what I want to do, even though I'm only 24 I think about what I'm doing with my left overs. Definitely considered leaving myself in the ground naturally and have a tree planted over me.
It's Okay To Say You're Welcome
     Just let people be themselves.
     Arturo The1  リ壱

Dave

Good idea, but not original.

Schemes exist here in the UK but, unfortunately, they are either trees for your own garden (marketting strstegy) of dedications of existing trees in existing forests or arboretums (fund raising strategy).

Sorry for my scepticism but can't find a scheme thst garantees the tree's ecistence until it dies a natural death. But, even then, it will have done something for the enviroment and gone towards balancing the CO2 produced during incineration or rotting in the ground (though the latter involves no "fossil" CO2 release). (Hmm, perhaps there should be a law to say all crematoria are fuelled only by "new" gas from waste food digesters?)

In the end it is how the successors feel that really matters.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

joeactor

Quote from: Dragonia on February 08, 2017, 03:32:05 AM
Enders Game: my very very favorite sci-fi series ever. My cousin loved it so much, she named her first born son Ender.

Cool cousin! I liked that series also. The movie was ok (got to double for Harrison Ford on that one).

I'm all for being a tree when I go. Doesn't really matter to me, but it's nice to be kind to the planet on the way out.

Or... There's this:
http://www.lifegem.com/