Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Neptune Memorial Reef

A follow up to my post below.

Here's a Fox News report on the Neptune Underwater Reef.

The "reef" is a man-feature. People's cremated remains are placed into the sculpture/reef and will potentially replenish the reef, nourish the fish, etc.

I can see being interested in this as a final resting place if you were an avid scuba diver or loved the ocean. But I don't buy the whole, "giving back to the earth" angle as a primary motivation, which the CEO pushes.



Heck, if you like the idea, more power to you. Personally, it CREEPS ME OUT!

2 comments:

Gail Rae said...

Funny you should write about this. Since I was pretty young (around 10, I think), I've always wanted to have my body unceremoniously discarded, intact, without accouterments, either in the ocean or just dumped somewhere on or in the earth and scavenged. In Arizona, as it turns out (in which I may or may not live when I die), it is legal for people to bury others on their property. I don't know if there are requirements regarding vaulting (i.e., maybe a pine box, at least, is legally required, which would be okay with me, as long as scavengers could get to me).
Regarding the Neptune Society burial reef, I take exception to the necessity for cremation.

Jessica Knapp said...

Yes, I wonder why they must be cremated for the Neptune Memorial. Would it be space? Or for the environment? Maybe it's just too hard to bury in sand underwater?

It's like that scene in the most recent James Bond movie where Bond throws his fallen friend in the trash dumpster. The girl asks, "Is that any way to treat a friend?" And Bond says something like, "He wouldn't care."

Well, sounds like you live in the right state to make it happen. I don't know if you can even bury pets in your backyard in Washington.