Will the Earth one day become a huge cemetery? If so, how much time do we have?

[boysenberry]

Just out of curiosty how long does the Earth have until we run out of space? More and more people are going to keep dying with time and most of those people would want to be buried in cemetries or under the ground where future properties and establishments would be inappropriate to put forward. I think this has been a growing problem, particularly in countries with a large population but with little land. In Japan they're planning to build tall skyscrapers for the dead and big companies are making huge profits. I used to wonder a fair bit about this when I was little, but won't the Earth one day become one big cemetery because of this?

[xXNovaxX]

OH MY GOD!

I DONT BELIEVE IT~~~

I thought I was the only person in the ENTIRE world who thoguht of this!!! I literally wondered as a CHILD, how come we WASTE LAND to bury bodies! Like as harsh as it sounds, we have GINORMOUS cemetries to place bodies (R.I.P), and between each coffin is quiet a gap, and since MILLIONS die each year, thats MILLIONS of holes that are dug measuring MILLIONS in metres.....like think about how much POTENTIAL land could have been used for food, houses etc.


I am not being mean, just CURIOUS of how we can fit dead bodies =S

Well in some countries (i never knew this) cemetries are reserved for the RICH, and the general populace aka 70%+ are placed on morgues i think they are called, or BUILDINGS where stacks upon stacks of bodies are placed in shelves....saving a lot of space.

I feel so bad talking like the dad are a waste of space =S but I am genuinelly not meaning that.

But really think about it!

One thing I also find strange, you know that large cemetry in Springvale? I think its the largest in Victoria....its been open for YEARS, like 20+ i think, how come it hasnt run out of space!!! Like they have GARDENS and empty land there plus heaps of burial places.....for DOZENS OF YEARS, and it still operates

[Over9000]

There will come a point in time when we will have to launch the caskets off into outer space.

[crappy]

You have nothing to fear, once the cemeteries get full the kazakhs will create anti-death pills, so there's no need to worry!

[Collin Li]

I wonder if societies will change to no longer respect the right to be buried/cremated etc. (i.e.: once you die you do not own your body).

This may become necessary to farm organs (probably not that many are going to be donor-worthy, but still), and to save space. Also, I heard human corpse makes a good fertiliser.

I think one step we should take in that direction (even if we don't want to go the whole way) is to make organ donation opt-out. It is an important nudge to achieving a better outcome. People would probably want to donate organs, if they didn't have to do anything about it -- and fervent opposers to the idea can just opt-out.

[periwinkle]

  lol, I think waste is a bigger problem; our body mass is nothing compared to that of lifetime's supply of trash. I mean, don't we put out rubbish each week? Also, aren't we biodegradable?

[xXNovaxX]

Yes! At perwinkle! Trash is also a BIG issue! But with trash countries get away with incinerating it by burning it down using technology/laser/microwave (futuristic) /fire.

Also, I was just wondering, for homeless people.... prisoners with no family....where do their bodies go? Since FAMILIES struggle affording coffins and burial costs, what happens with those who can't =S, or if a person was found dead on the street

[minilunchbox]

I think there's an environmentally-friendly way to bury yourself when you die since cremating releases heaps of... stuff (obviously I don't function well in the morning). But yeah, it pretty much involves dumping your body in some land where it'll eventually degrade or in a biodegradable box. Or there's just cremation and you can scatter your ashes over the ocean where the fish can eat it.

[samuch]

when you buy a grave at cemeteries, you buy it for a certain period of time
after that they get reused

edit: but i do guess this system will not be sufficient enough for creating room after a while

[QuantumJG]

I think over time we will go for the more 'environmentally' friendly coffin, since the human population has exploded. The globe's population in 1800 was around 1 billion, now it's almost 7 billion.

This really will become a problem in the future. There will be a point when human corpses will become a waste hazard.

I personally think we are lucky to live on the Earth today. If we think that things are bad now (in terms of climate change), by the 22nd century we will really have a problem. If we extrapolate our data I really wouldn't want to see what it will be like in 500 years.

This is a good thread!

[xXNovaxX]

I am really into the whole terraforming of Mars!

It seems so interesting! Especially if you look at IMAGES of how they will make it green etc to produce oxygen, eventually allowing us to live there! Can you imagine how civilization would function! Being 2 different planets, NEW COUNTRIES maybe?! Or maybe just "New America" "New Russia" etc.

But then again, this may sound stupid in the light of things, but I don't really want a new, un-touched planet being full of "human germs" if that makes sense, e.g. chicken pox, influenza etc.

Like, I read somewhere, the Indians of the Carribean or the Mayans? They died when the Spanish invaded not because of WAR, but because they're bodies had NEVER encountered measles i.e. that part of the earth, so they died from it. Like, my point is, why infect more lands with our diseases, we really need to think about how it will work first. For example, avoid shanty towns, and garbage dumps on Mars, or things which are dirty.

ALTERNATIVELY, we could use smaller planets as dumping grounds for our waste, and existing garbage dumps, and bodies etc to RESTART earth....or sort of get some pressure off earth, we could also extract resources from there and shut down earth's ones to help green earth up again.

I prefer the first option though.
Sorry! Getting a little carried away from excitement o.O

[crappy]

I am really into the whole terraforming of Mars!

Can you tell me how we could terraform mars? Its never been done before, and probably wont be done for hundreds of years. We aren't even a stage one civilisation yet so we're not even advanced enough to think of terraforming.

[xXNovaxX]

I am really into the whole terraforming of Mars!

Can you tell me how we could terraform mars? Its never been done before, and probably wont be done for hundreds of years. We aren't even a stage one civilisation yet so we're not even advanced enough to think of terraforming.

google it -.-*

It really is quiet simple, the majority of technology we already have.... it's not that difficult at all, and is estimated to be done within like 50 years (initial phases)

http://science.howstuffworks.com/terraforming2.htm

Really is quiet simple. I didn't say it will happen tomorrow, but the TIME it does happen I reckon will coincide with the time we really lack space and natural resources....oil is estimated to run out in about 50 years, depending on who u derive ur data from

Mars has been identified as having ice....the temperature there is quiet comparable to earth...they will take seeds there to begin producing more oxygen.....build biospheres to contain the oxygen....and walla, life.

Its because I've done quiet a bit of reading on it I find it achievable, trust me, do some research and u will begin to see how its possible! Theres been dozens of biospheres built on earth to REPLICATE how to terraform, its quiet remarkable.

[crappy]

I cant afford google, so I cant google it

[samuch]

googlegooglegooglegoogle.com = awesomest of awesome search engines!
quite nifty if you ask me haha