Arguments Against Cremation

Regardless of one’s ethnicity, occupation, or economic stability, death is the one thing that connects everyone on the planet. What happens to one's body after death, however, is another factor which separates us again. Cremation is defined as the disposal of a dead person’s body by burning it to ashes (Oxford). This form of body disposal has been becoming more popular and more controversial in recent history. Those who claim that cremation is the 'better option' often base their arguments on environmental claims, cost value, and the minimizing of land usage. The average cost of a funeral today is about $6,500, including the typical $2,000-or-more cost of a casket. Add a burial vault, and the average jumps to around $7,700. A cremation,

According to the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs, this change in cremation rates is indicating of the progress of the government's attempt to save valuable farmland by promoting and sometimes mandating cremations. The main reason why cremation is considered the 'solution' to China's dwindling farmland lies primarily in the amount of land that traditional burial requires, rather than the versatility of disposal that cremation offers. A traditional casket is typically around 54,100 cubic inches and requires a plot of land to be buried in, whereas the size of an urn reduces the size of remains to about one cubic inch per pound antemortem, for example, a 200 pound person would typically need a 200 cubic inch urn for their cremated ashes (What). Thus is approximately a 99.6 per cent decrease in standard area used for remains. Furthermore, the remains could be reduced even more if they are otherwise disposed of. Such alternate ash disposal includes mixing into soil or forming a memorial reef, which entails mixing the remains with concrete and dropping it in the ocean (Mathisen). While the information on the rise of cremation in China came directly from the Chinese government and therefore undoubtedly contains pro-cremation propaganda bias, the information provided by Mathisen was directly researched with casket-manufacturing companies, funeral homes, mortuary science schools and the annual convention of the National Funeral Directors