If I don’t get the Island Reef Job, I can always be buried there…
Welcome to the Great Burial Reef! That’s right–if I don’t get the Island Reef Job, I can get eventually get a job AS the reef! One eco-friendly burial method does just that–uses your remains to rebuild damaged natural coral reefs! This would have been so perfect for my grandpa, the deep sea diver, who instead had his cremains scattered at sea by the Neptune Society. The pay’s not great, but the benefits are awesome. Just not for you.
According to CNN, “Death is becoming less of a dark matter than a green one. Dying is arguably the most natural phenomenon in the world, but modern death rituals — embalming with formaldehyde-based solutions and traditional burial in concrete vaults — are not nature-friendly, according to environmentalists.”
Along with its dead, the United States buries 1.6 million tons of reinforced concrete, 827,060 tons of toxic embalming fluid, 90,000 tons of steel (from caskets), and 30 million tons of hardwood board each year, according to the Green Burial Council, an independent nonprofit organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
“We can rebuild the Golden Gate Bridge with that amount of metal,” said Joe Sehee, the council’s executive director. “The amount of concrete is enough to build a two-lane highway from New York to Detroit.”
In order to reduce carbon emissions, waste and toxins in the death care industry, people are utilizing burial to steward natural areas in the U.S. according to Joe Sehee.
“We’re the surf and turf of natural burial,” said George Frankel, CEO of Eternal Reefs. The company takes the green movement to sea level by offering a living legacy in the form of underwater reefs used to create new marine habitats for fish and other sea life. The artificial reefs are cast from a mixture of environmentally safe cement and cremated remains.
A brass plaque helps identify remains on the reef which can be visited by scuba diving.
“These reefs will be covered up with sea life in a very short period of time, so they make a significant contribution,” Frankel said. The reefs last about 500 years, and so far about 300 have been dropped off the coasts of Florida, South Carolina, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia.
An eco-friendly funeral can also help conserve land and protect it from development. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is working with the Green Burial Council to become the first state-park agency to offer cremation-based green burials. The funds raised from the services will be used to acquire new state park lands.
Hype or no hype, the decision is a personal one that ultimately rests with an individual or family. Sehee emphasizes that the Green Burial Council is careful not to diminish anyone’s choices or make recommendations about the greenest way to go. “There are shades of green and people can distinguish one shade from another,” he said.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/17/dying.green/index.html
More eco problem solving: In Depth: Solutions
What a great idea. I used to want be cremated and my ashes secretly sprinkled over a cheesecake to be served at the wake, but now I have changed my mind. I wanna be a coral reef too.
From your picture, it looks like they’ve teamed up with folks at Reef Ball!! Cause that’s a Reef Ball!! (http://www.reefball.org/index.html).
I like the idea of artificial reefs to protect or reinforce habitat, i.e. erosion control/mangrove recruitment and such; but I don’t know how it will help with living corals. If corals are threatened from temperature, organic composition, and such, no amount reef habitat (reef sprawl?) is going to help the corals. Poor corals. Gwen! Go save the corals!
I made it! Test submitted and just waiting for the final cut:
http://www.islandreefjob.com/#/applicants/watch/kQzXTMfDLpA
congrats Paul! My son LOVES your video! good luck on the next stage!
I’ll get on it, Jason! As soon as I get these rides established–you will be joining us this week, yes?
your site is very interesting
please comes to my blog
http://www.healthy-zone.info
and leave some comment please
thanks a lot
LOVE this. I’d seen the title floating around on the Ning site, but never clicked on it in my BJITW focus/obsession. I wonder if there’s a terrestrial application for this as well…because what if my grandchildren don’t dive? ;) I know I could just have my ashes scattered over the lake where I grew up, but I’d rather have a more useful “final purpose.” LOL.
great informative article! My soul is engaged!
to find a natural burial site near you check out
http://funeralideas.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=35
Best Hoax of 2009
Most of the English speaking world has heard about the “Island reef Job” or “The Best Job in the World” contest run by Tourism Queensland in Australia. The promotion has been heralded as one of the greatest marketing phenomenon ever and initially appeared so.
Well it is more than a well crafted promotion. It is a HOAX.
The winner was already determined before the contest even opened. David Whitehill and his agency Creative Representation are in league with Tourism Queensland and Cummins Nitro in designing this hoax. It was loosely based on the current crop of reality shows currently on TV. Sort of a survivor / big brother blend except the winner was already decided before Christmas in 2008!
Unfortunately for them the contest side of the promotion grew out of control when the world media ran with the initial story. Thousands of media outlets and tens of thousands unsuspecting applicants inundated the poorly designed TQ operation. Some folks have spent significant resources providing video (estimate $30 – 20 million in total) and media outlets have to this date (March 4, 2009) provided ($80 million) in free publicity! “For a $US1.8 million ($NZ3.6 million) campaign we have received nearly $US80 million in publicity,” said Ms Boyle (State of Queensland Minister of Tourism).
The applicants who put their heart and soul into this hoax are very angry about this revelation. The millions of viewers are disappointed. The media outlets have expressed disbelief as to their gullibility.
After viewing the top50 and looking up David Hill’s cult status in Queensland the hoax becomes obvious. David is miles ahead of the selected top50 applications. That and the obvious bias for less than 30 years of age crowd were also given away to the selection process plan. A few of the top50 videos were over the 60 second rule that caused some applicants so much grief. One top50 video from China didn’t even have any spoken English. The real big clue to the hoax was that the final winner is ultimately to be decided by Tourism Queensland. This will allow for David Hill to be given the work and use it as a launching pad for his acting career.
The Queensland people will accept this much better now that a local boy is keeping the cash in the area.
“There were rumours of a hoax from the beginning.” Michael Branagh, boss of Cummins Nitro’s Brisbane office said he was delighted with the success of the project which had generated huge amounts of worldwide publicity. He said the video was put on the site to “seed” it and AAP had only itself to blame for being fooled. He said: “Bad luck to them. They should have known better.”