Today something entirely different and I’m afraid not really BuilderScrap related. I saw a rather disturbing report in The Guardian regarding how to reduce my carbon footprint once dead! Should I really be concerned how much carbon is expended whilst they dispose of my body?

It transpires that cremation creates a large carbon footprint, whilst burial is equally damaging to the environment and is also too space consuming. Again I am still not sure that this is something that will concern many including myself, after all the carbon footprint of the dead is always going to be less than even the most eco minded living person.

However, one man has devoted his life to providing a low carbon solution to death. Scottish biochemist Sandy Sullivan has undertaken research in order to provide a solution which achieves what cremation can without the high carbon and mercury emissions, it is called Resomation.

He has developed a pressurised chamber which accelerates body decomposition as it would be in nature, the body is placed in the chamber with an alkaline solution which when heated will leave human remains as white ash within 3 hours. He claims that the method reduces the carbon footprint by four times that of cremation and even more disturbingly suggests that medical parts such as false hips will be left in pristine reusable condition. I think I will leave going to the doctors about that sore hip now.

Surely this is a step too far on ethical living….or dying as it is? I think I will leave it down to friends and family to decide my fate once dead, whether they choose burial, cremation or resomation is fine by me.

Another post from the newest member of the BuilderScrap Team – Mike Close.  This blog looks at the effects of vegetarianism on the planet!  

 
It has long been thought that giving up meat and turning to a vegetarian diet is not only the key to a healthy lifestyle but also a great way of reducing your carbon footprint and helping your planet. New research from the Cranford University however, has suggested that vegetarian diets that include a large number of processed meat substitutes such as Tofu might in fact be worse for the environment than eating a “meat diet”.

Past reports have made some strong claims that a vegetarian diet drastically reduces the amount of greenhouse gases that go into the environment. Farming livestock are blamed for a quarter of “man made” methane emissions and 8 % of all UK emissions. According to the University of Chicago switching to a vegetarian diet can shrink your carbon footprint by up to 1.5 tonnes of carbon.

The new research has suggested though that the benefits are heavily reliant on the types of vegetarian foods consumed, Tofu and other processed meat substitutes containing soy, chickpeas and lentils may be resulting in a higher emissions output than eating locally sourced meat. These crops are being grown overseas and imported; this is resulting in higher transport emissions and increased destruction of forests due to a high demand for arable land.

This is a very convenient report for someone like me who enjoys a nice steak every now and then but generally considers himself to be fairly “environmentally friendly”, but of course it is a simplistic view. What if I eat imported meats, what about the increased water productions in meat production, what if I eat meat from a cow which has abnormal levels of flatulence, what if I import an individual lemur steak on a 1000 tonne steamboat powered on coal, mined by children in developing countries?

So what should I be eating to do “my bit”? Just vegetables, just locally sourced meat, or maybe grass cuttings from my garden? Well I am not going to cut out meat, or vegetables; maybe one day packaging will let me know how much carbon is used in the production of foods and “they” can monitor my carbon footprint accordingly. Maybe if I stay within my individual carbon targets I could be rewarded with nectar points (or the equivalent), if I do less well I am forced to scavenge through my next door neighbours potato peelings until the next “carbon year”.

I think until such times though I will try to maintain a healthy balanced diet (with the odd Chinese takeaway thrown in) and get locally sourced products where possible. There seems to be too much questionable data and dubious assumptions to create a clear indication of the best diet to be “green”.