Air Pollution
Advantages of an Electric Crematorium
The Bahá'í faith says: "I came forth from God, and return unto Him, detached from all save Him, holding fast to His Name, the Merciful, the Compassionate".
Death comes to everybody, we are all mere mortals. Each individual completes his cycle of life and ultimately wishes for an eternal union with his creator. All religions have various customs and traditions to prepare their loved ones for a peaceful death or afterlife. But our ethics and to a certain extent, our religious fear makes us turn an unmindful and a rather nonchalant eye to our burial and crematory practices which have a profound environment impacts. Mother Earth has given us so much to cherish, we also need to reciprocate by fulfilling some of the duties.
There are two ways adopted by people irrespective of faith to pay homeage to their dead: Burial and cremation. Mummification, a common form of Egyptian burial has also attracted the attention of many because of its rather extraordinary way of elaborately treating dead bodies. But in all of them the hazards to the environment are enormous.
During cremation, a gas is utilised which leads to depletion of fossil fuels and its combustion creates air pollution at the same time. The decay of a body's dental fillings is also harmful for the environment. Still, cremation is hailed as a rather “clean” method because it attempts to maintain the ecological balance. The Environment Ministry can release norms to regulate the emissions of cremations and impose the use of bio-degradable bags to keep the remains. In Hindu tradition, it is a norm to burn the dead bodies on a funeral pyre, however the electric crematorium system of the West is fast catching up.
It is often believed that burial is a more-eco-friendly technique of cremation, but this too is debatable. Highly toxic herbicides and plastics that are used in the materials of which coffins are made serve as a potential threat to the environment. Use of harmful herbicides in cemetries causes soild pollution, hence emphasis needs to be laid on biodegradable coffins or caskets. Tree plantation should be carried on a large scale in and around the cemetery to reduce carbon footprints and steps should be taken to convert them into wildlife reserves. This will greatly diminish the use of herbicides for weed control as well as cause only a minimal damage to nature and environment.
It is important to raise awareness of "green burials" and encourage cremation without creating unnecessary pressure on the environment.Use of corrosive and toxic chemicals like formaldehyde to replace body fluids can be highly harmful for the environment. All crematorial methods should be made as enivronment friendly as possible to ensure ecological-balance.
Recycle My Oil
One interesting fact about Waste Vegetable Oil is that the US produces over 100 million gallons a year. Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) that is filtered can be used straight in diesel vehicles that have been converted to cool the oil, or bio-diesel can be used with no conversion to the vehicle at all. Bio-diesel refining involves some toxic substances – methanol for example – and reduces the cost differential between conventional and recycled fuel. As an alternative to massive gas consumption, waste vegetable oil starts to make sense. One wvo recycling company in Colorado EPR inc. has an oil collection service that will collect restaurant or food service WVO on a regular basis for free. Many companys make arrangements with restaurants/food service to gather and re-use WVO (with or without further refinement) in their converted cars. I would seen that many greenhouse gases are created every year from the burning of diesel fuel in trucks. The recent fuel prices are cause for creative ways to act responsible environmentally speaking and one way, is to use waste vegetable oil as a renewable supply of fuel for vehicles. There are so many benefits of using this source to replace fossil fuels and some of these include abridged air pollution, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and conservation many other valuable resources found on the planet. There are two different ways that you can use vegetable oil as a fuel in engines. The first way is that you can use straight vegetable oil either waste frying oil or fresh- pressed oil, however you will need an extra fuel tank and a system for heating and filtering the oil before it reaches the engine. The oil needs to be heated it is too thick to just work in an engine. If your goal is to go modification free on your diesel your best bet is to use not just WVO but Bio-Diesel. Bio-diesel is a fuel source that can be made from waste vegetable oil when a chemical reaction is induced between methanol and lye. You can create it from waste vegetable oil that can be collected from most restaurants, or you can use fresh pressed oil but that can be costly. World wide this is being produced today to be sold on the commercial market, due to the fact that anyone can get the right equipment it can even be made in your home. Some of the toxic air pollutants that are concentrated include soot, particulates, carbon monoxide, and sulphur oxides, however nitrous oxide emissions may increase slightly.
