A Green Eternity

Quote of the day:
“Life improves slowly and goes wrong fast, and only catastrophe is clearly visible.”
--Edward Teller

Quote of the day no. 2:
“When the Fed drops the interest rate, it punishes those who save and put their money in the bank. The effort to bail out subprime investors is aimed at those who have gambled and lost, and there should be some contrast in consequences for their behavior compared to savers.”
--Niccolo Caldararo

Two items, without comment:

1. An elderly neighbor of ours recently passed away. He had lived in this neighborhood since the 1950s. We learned of his passing from a 91-year-old friend, who also told us that the memorial service was going to be private, for family only.

With a sense of surprise and maybe disbelief, he said, “they’re going to burn him.”

2. The “Washington Post” reported on October 8th that an organization called EcoEternity is offering a green form of burial. For a price, the company will place a person’s remains in a biodegradable urn and plant it beside a mature tree.

In time, the remains will be soaked up by the tree’s root system. EcoEternity has partnered with Camp Highroad, a United Methodist camp in northern Virginia, where three acres will be set aside for this purpose.

Small tags will identify the deceased. Tombstones and plastic flowers will be forbidden. The price for leasing a tree starts at $4,500. Up to 15 family members can be interred under one tree over a span of 99 years.