 |
Cremation is all the rage in the
funerary world, accounting for one-fourth of U.S. interments
in the year 2000—a number expected to rise by another 15
percent in the next 10 years. Consequently, alternative
cremation services are popping up everywhere. Houston-based
Celestis will rocket your remains into space. Celebrate Life
Inc. of San Diego will send you off in a lavish fireworks
display. And, for somewhere between $1,500 and $3,200, Eternal
Reefs, a Decatur, Georgia, company, will mix your ashes with
concrete and turn you into an artificial reef on the ocean
floor.
Don Brawley, Eternal Reefs' founder, got the
idea a few years ago when his father-in-law said he'd rather
"be buried around a lot of life than in a field with a bunch
of dead people."
Brawley was already making artificial
reefs to help restore fish habitats by providing a protected
haven. The reef balls weigh between 400 and 4,000 pounds. A
bronze plaque with the deceased's name is affixed to the
balls, and families get a certificate stating the reef's
coordinates. "We're providing a service that helps people give
back something positive to the environment," says Brawley.
But some marine biologists are skeptical. John
McManus, director of the University of Miami's National Center
for Caribbean Coral Reef Research, says: "If you're trying to
protect fish stocks, 70 percent of which are already
overfished, the worst thing you can do is make it easier to
catch the fish by plopping down an artificial reef."
|
|
