death techniques that can improve land utilization
ABSTRACT
The aim of this project should be to explore several avenues in funeral techniques that could be practice by the government so as to spend less space from this land-scarce contemporary society. To answer this question, I am conducting analysis on the diverse methods that are offered such as funeral and cremation service. I will then be analyzing the different benefits and drawbacks of each method and the elements that are included in these operations. I will also attempt to assess the situation spinning around Bukit Brown, supply my own opinion on the matter after performing an interview for the topic and gaining the opinions of others. I will then determine procedures that would be suitable for this island then of Singapore.
INQUIRY ISSUE
In this report, I actually shall be looking to approach the subsequent topic: Loss of life, practices that may maximize property use in a land-scarce society. Singapore’s deficiency of space is a very real and major problem that everyone is most likely aware of now as such the federal government has used on a great number of measures and plans to counteract this matter. However one action that Singapore offers undertaken over the years to remedy the problem which has attracted me may be the exhumation of cemeteries so as to make method for residential buildings and roadways. With so many cemeteries having been exhumed by our government, not many cemeteries currently remain unchanged in Singapore, with just one cemetery actually open pertaining to burials presently. As such we’ve been forced to move forward from burials and discover other methods that could be more effective with this society. Nevertheless , when dealing with this issue, In my opinion that it is far better to take into consideration factors such as environmental impact, feasibility, cost, religious reasons, ethical and moral reasoning, and naturally space. Consequently , taking note of these factors, That stuff seriously is a beneficial endeavor to uncover what is the most successful practice inside the land scarce society of Singapore.
EXPLORATION
To resolve my request question, I will be researching around the different techniques used such as burial and cremation. Let me also study on the actions that the federal government intends to take and determine what problems the federal government could deal with in employing these strategies and projects. Research will also be conducted on different made use of and their persuits and procedures regarding burial. Analysis will also carried out to discover the environmental affects of the distinct practices and whether virtually any measures may be taken against them. On top of that I will end up being conducting selection interviews on the subject at hand. The interviews seek to find out what the overall populace considers of the current situation revolving around exhumation of cemeteries, especially the Bukit Brown cemetery. The interviews also try to determine what they will feel that the us government should do next, and how we are able to move on from this point.
By all the info collected, I will then consider and weigh all the different factors and after that propose a method that is possible and will allow for Singapore to maximize terrain use.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The purpose of this kind of literature assessment is to evaluate the different burial or cremation methods, and determine the effectiveness and feasibility of each and every practice in Singapore.
We will first look at burial, specifically organic burials that are meant to benefit the environment and perhaps even shield natural wildlife. Natural burial is the approach to burying body in the earth, natural burial allow for the decomposing body to supply nutrients to the surrounding flora and fauna, biodegradable elements can also be used to make the coffins. Relating to a letter by Matthew H Holden and McDonald-Madden (2017), another form of all-natural burial is definitely conservation burial, in which the charge for the burial moves towards the attainment and administration of a certain place. This process benefits the surrounding refuge, ecosystems and wildlife. In a journal looking into into the a result of the human body following death within the environment simply by Carter, Deb. O., Yellowlees, D., and Tibbett, M. (2007), a decomposing muerto was discovered to be a very good source of nutrition. The human body provides a low carbon dioxide to nitrogen ratio allowing for decomposition to occur easier, the body also has a high nutritional content which is good for plant life. It had been also figured the human body delivers more nutrition to an place as compared to flower matter or manure. Therefore , the method of burial actually provides a positive impact for the nearby environment, benefitting plant life also helping the ecosystems. However , the method of natural funeral in Singapore is not so plausible to put into practice due to the lack of space. As such this really is a method that will work better far away in which property is less scarce. Another problem that this poses is the fact the fact that digging of soil regularly over a certain area to bury the bodies actually will loosen and weaken the soil, leading to wildlife within flourish properly.
One common practice that may be utilized to protect the body is usually embalming. Research was created by Erich Brenner (2014) about preservation of bodies. Inside the study, Brenner writes regarding the history of embalming after which details the chemicals that get into embalming and what is the usability of the embalming techniques. Embalming generally involves the process of injecting chemical substances into the physique, so as to stop the body coming from decomposing for a period of time. The embalming option is a blend of mainly formaldehyde, methanol and glutaraldehyde. One of many chemicals employed in the embalming solution formaldehyde, which is used to stiffen the tissue of the body, is regarded as extremely hazardous and dangerous (National Toxicology Program 2010). Formaldehyde is really hazardous in reality that it continues to be placed on the U. S. Environmental Security Agencys set of top ten the majority of hazardous chemical compounds for harmful the environment. In an extensive review conducted by National Toxicology Program ‘Final Report in Carcinogens Background Document pertaining to Formaldehyde’, formaldehyde was identified to provide unfavorable impacts in humans, with connections between cancer and the compound getting drawn. On top of all of that, for the embalmed muerto is hidden, the chemicals which were injected in to the body may seep out into the earth. As such the formaldehyde from the embalming method will be released into the surrounding soil. This will likely in turn present a danger to the encircling plant life, harming root devices and disguising a possible threat to ecosystems. Therefore , due to this large adverse impact on the environment from embalming, it is a useless process that people should refrain from using.
Cremation may be the process of heating system bodies to extremely high temperatures, so as to disintegrate them. Physiques are generally warmed at a temperature of 870 to 980C so as to ensure that the entire body is totally disintegrated. The task takes between 90 mins to two hours for cremation service to be total. The products obtained from this happen to be bone fragments that are then pulverized in the final step of cremation, resulting in the lung burning ash that we know about. Looking at cremation service from a great environmental factor, the cremated remains contain a high ph level of about 11. 5 and have an increased sodium content, this results in cremated remains being toxic towards crops. Cremated is still are also rich in calcium and phosphorous which could affect the acid or alkalinity of the dirt, damaging vegetation. Cremated continues to be also include a small mass of mercury, this mercury is normally removed by the crematories, but if this kind of harmful pollutant is produced into the environment through the ashes, it could present a danger to the plants and creatures. However it is difficult to determine what effect cremated remains include on garden soil, this is because presently only anecdotal evidence is present, with no trials or analysis conducted to back up these assert. It can be concluded that cremation continues to be do not cause as much of a threat for the environment in comparison with burial. Nevertheless , due to the great heat required for the cremation, crematorium furnaces require a lot of strength to run, with just one cremation requiring about 106 liters of fuel. On top of that, the cremation produces a large amount of green house gases into the environment. Because of the disintegration of the cadaver, hazardous gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and hydrogen fluoride will be emitted. Within a study conducted by the Cremation Association of North America, it absolutely was found that filtering cremation service fumes experienced little to no influence on the poisons and gases released. Consequently, it is hard to lower the amount of hazardous gases released in the process of cremation. However , inspite of all the adverse impacts cremation has on the surroundings, cremation happens to be the most common practice in Singapore. This is due to the reality cremation is the most efficient approach in terms of space usage, as such it is installing for a world that has a deficiency of space just like Singapore.
However in addition to the environmental facets of these procedures, we also need to factor in the religious elements. In Catholicism, cremation utilized to not always be encouraged, nevertheless now it is allowed as long as the cremation can be carried out after funeral bras, this is because the entire body is favored to be present for the funeral mass. On top of that, the cremated is still should not be dispersed, but rather smothered underground typically in an urn. For Buddhists, cremation and embalming can be allowed, in the event the body is cremated, the remains to be can be gathered by the family members. As such, pertaining to Catholics and Buddhists, the two burial and cremation will be allowed. In Hinduism alternatively, all Hindus are cremated, excluding infants and new orleans saints. This is because babies and new orleans saints are believed being pure which their spirit is unattached to their body. Finally, to get Muslims, cremation and embalming is forbidden. For Muslims, the cadaver has to be hidden as soon as possible following death. This results in complications arising while Muslims can not be transported over long distances, as such Muslims living or perhaps working in various other countries are not able to be buried back in all their hometown. Consequently, of all the key religious groups in Singapore, only Muslims forbid cremation service, whilst simply Hindus forbid burial. Therefore we will need to take this into consideration once determining routine.
DATA COLLECTION
The most up-to-date cemetery which our government has turned plans to exhume is the Bukit Brown Cemetery. This summer, LTA announced that plans were created for a dual four-lane road linking Adam Flyover and Macritchie Viaduct would be created over Bukit Brown cemetery. The rest of the cemetery is also set for redevelopment into new residential estates. This decision resulted in multiple heritage groups protesting resistant to the authorities as they believed that our heritage will be lost with the exhumation in the cemetery.
As such, to get the data collection in this project, I chosen an interview to collect data with this topic. The objective of this interview is to find what others think of the current situation revolving around Bukit Brown and find out what they think must be done to remedy the situation. The potential customers of this interview is those who are aware of the problem revolving surrounding the exhumation of Bukit Darkish cemetery.
Interview Queries:
Do you agree or don’t agree with the government’s decision to exhume the Bukit Brown cemetery? Why?
(If interviewee agrees) Are these the best personal thoughts on all those fighting to save lots of the social heritage which usually Bukit Darkish holds?
(If interviewee disagrees) What do you imagine the government should do to remedy the specific situation?
What do you think is the best burial process that is certainly suited for a land-scarce town such as Singapore?
Data Gathered:
I interviewed 20 visitors to find out on the opinions concerning the matter. With the twenty interviewees, 13 of which said that they will disagreed with the government’s decision, whilst six of them declared they arranged with the government’s decision. To get the 13 interviewees who disagreed while using government’s decision, the general response for all of them was that the cemetery placed a lot of cultural traditions and that by simply exhuming, every one of the heritage would be lost forever. One of the interviewees who has took part in multiple tours in Bukit Brownish says the cemetery website hosts the fatal of many influential people who have contributed towards the progress Singapore. One more of the interviewees who has a family member buried in the cemetery says that a lot of people especially those with relatives smothered in the cemetery hold a solid connection to the cemetery, with many bearing good emotional feelings due to the decision for the exhumation of the cemetery.
On the other hand, there were 7 interviewees who arranged with the actions of the govt. The general opinion of those evaluated was that being a society we need to be frequently working to progress, and we need to focus on expansion. One interview stated that since Singapore is such a land-scarce island, we must make effective use of just about every inch of whatever space we have.
The six interviewees who have agreed together with the actions in the government showed mixed viewpoints towards people who were struggling to prevent the exhumation of Bukit Brown cemetery. A single interviewee said that he sympathizes with the activists for Bukit Brown, however he experienced that we must not let traditions hold us in the past. The interviewee additional states that there are many other approaches to protect and preserve the heritage that currently is present and preserving Bukit Darkish is not necessary to preserve our heritage and culture.
The 13 interviewees who disagreed with the actions from the government generally believed it turned out not necessary for the government to exhume the cemetery. A single interviewee mentioned that the new highway that was to end up being constructed has not been necessary. This individual claimed that rather than building a freeway that slice through the cemetery, LTA can instead broaden the existing highway to remedy the challenge of traffic jams inside the area. This kind of solution might still result in some tragique being exhumed from the border of the cemetery but nowhere close to the quantity of fatal that would must be exhumed if LTA were to go through with the current plan.
Concerning how we should certainly move on from the decision, the interviewees once again had merged opinions. Many interviewees stated that cremation service is the best strategy to us Singaporeans right now due to our deficiency of space. Nevertheless one interviewee suggested creating a large building for funeral, this way the us government could maximize the usage of space.
CONSTRUCT
For a property scarce tropical isle such as Singapore, cremation seems to be the most fitting choice and i also believe that it really is. Burials aren’t feasible at all due to each of our city’s limited space, consequently embalming is usually out of the question. Though it will be necessary to keep one cemetery open to residence Muslim burials, due to the fact that it truly is forbidden pertaining to Muslims to become cremated. Yet , cremation really should not be thought of as an everlasting solution mainly because it has many negative environmental effects, as such we should be ready to switch to new methods. One such case is alkaline hydrolysis which can be the process of applying high temperature normal water and potassium hydroxide to put on down the physique until the particular bones are left, a result of this is similar to cremation. Consequently , we should wait for this technology to be produced further then use it if it is readily available.
For the case revolving about Bukit Brown, I believe that in the long run the government does not have choice but to redevelop the land. As a country that strives for development and success, we must be constantly developing each of our island in order to not become overdue. However That stuff seriously the government ought to leave a tiny area of area to preserve the ecosystems within the cemetery and also leave behind a memorial service to preserve the heritage.
REVEAL
During this task, I have learnt many things regarding burial and cremation in Singapore. As this was my personal first time publishing a report without any help, I was met with many unparalleled challenges all along the way. A single major concern that I confronted was finally drawing a conclusion to my hypothesis. As every method acquired their pros and cons, I found it hard to consider the importance of each and every of the elements. From space usage to religion, I had developed to determine essential each of the specific factors were. On top of that, as each method had it is drawbacks that had been not conveniently solved, the conclusion that I wound up coming to was not perfect or ideal in any way.
Besides that, to get the Bukit Brown cemetery, there was zero set answer for what actions the government is going to take. Since it is actually a fight between practicality and ethics, it is difficult to determine a clear winner. Consequently, taking a aspect and deciding on what can be best for our society was not easy.
Another restriction was the interview, in my opinion, the scope of the interview was too narrow. To begin with, I wanted to interview more people on the topic available. However , besides that I also wanted to interview people who are not aware of the Bukit Brown situation before the interview to achieve their thoughts and opinions on the matter as well.