Dr Billy Campbell Seems To Be Offended

Hey folks,

I was planning on commenting on this article from the AP -Lobbies stymie action on energy By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press, this morning, until I saw that Dr. Billy Campbell, the President of Memorial Ecosystems responded in the comment section of my article on Saturday Green in Death. I just feel the need to respond. Also, by putting his response here, then everyone can get both sides of this. So Dr. Campbell, welcome to the OPN.

You Dr. Make a lot of assumptions. Lets discuss shall we. First. The article I commented on was written in reference to the whole Global Warming bunk. I was responding to it in that vain. Global Warming is nothing more than a scam. It’s about money and power. There is NO scientific proof that it is real, or caused by man. As a matter of fact, there is a lot of scientific evidence to the opposite. Natural cycles of the earth ETC. So whenever I see this type of garbage in reference to doing the "right thing" because I am destroying the planet, I find it humourous.

At the same time, if you or anyone else want to have a Green Burial, be my guest. My point is, do not tell me I should.

DR. CAMPBELL- I am not sure why right-wing bloggers find traditional burial so scary, or worthy of sarcastic derision. I presume that it has as much as anything to do with what the Southern hill people around here call being "ignert". Two syllable "ignorance" in the local dialect also has a double meaning: "uninformed arrogance". Just for the record, embalming does not stop the body from decaying-it just slows things down.

PETER -First assumption. I am not a Right Wing anything. I’m a Independent. I definitely find that my believe system of faith, morals, and see right and wrong are more associated with the Republicans, but I tow NO party line. I have a major problem with the far Right as well as the LWL. Nice try though.

I guess your reference to the "Hill People" and ""ignert" was to counter mine to the "He reckons?" I never said anything about embalming preserving the body. I pointed out that they seem to be saying in the "religion" of Global Warming, it seems to be a sin and evil.

DR. CAMPBELL -Most of the 300-400 client families who are involved with our conservation burial ground are not left wing environmentalists; far more are religious conservatives who take Genesis 3:19 very seriously, including a number of Jewish and Green Orthodox families who traditionally neither embalm or go in for cremation (I am in no way accusing you of being an anti-Semite, but you must be unaware that most Jewish and Muslim burials are and always have been "green"). Our new project in Atlanta is with a Trappist monastery, whose monks also go in for more simple whole body burial (the monks are buried in their vestments, without caskets, by the way).

PETER -I am very aware of the Jewish tradition of burial. I did not know about the Monks, and I truly thank you for sharing that. I have no problem whatsoever of how someone chooses to dispose or their shell. As far as I’m concerned, the person is long gone. What they do with their body is of no consequence.

DR. CAMPBELL - Of those not motivated on religious grounds, a major issue is cost savings on the total funeral, hardly a nutty left wing idea. While these cost savings also translate into less toxics in the environment, the cost savings are more motivating for most people. It is a free market for people to choose, and for some, cost is very important..

PETER -Again, I have no problem with personal choice. I understand and have spoken out against those that chose to make huge profits off the grieve of families that have lost loved ones. Not saying YOU are doing that, but many do. My problem comes in when someone attempts to guilt me, or tell me I HAVE to do this or that because of a lie.

DR. CAMPBELL - The idea of your body nurturing plants is an old one. Some Quakers were buried in their gardens by the 1600’s in part to nourish their flowers. You might want to re-read Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, which spends a good bit of time on the general idea of the re-incorporation of the bodies of the dead into living things (like leaves of grass). The idea of taking some comfort in the idea that your dead body will be "pushing up daisies" is neither new nor crazy.

PETER -In reference to by doing this you are preventing Global Warming, or at least helping to minimize it IS crazy. I guess I can understand the concept that a decaying body could somehow be used as fertilizer makes somewhat sense.

DR. CAMPBELL -Finally, the idea of using burials to protect natural spaces for people to enjoy (always a bigger deal for me than toxics) is also at least a couple of hundred years old, and should be the darling of libertarians and others who oppose government funded land protection. The "rural cemetery movement" of the early 19th century used private funds (raised in large measure from selling plots) to create natural areas for the public to enjoy (in the days before big city parks, these spaces often charged admission). Fredrick Law Olmstead’s greatest influence in designing Central Park was the example of these cemeteries (including Green Wood in Brooklyn, Mt. Auburn in Boston, and Laurel Hill in Philadelphia). I tell people that the only real innovation of conservation burial is that it employs modern conservation science in its design and long term operating plans.

PETER -I can actually go with you on this one. I understand the space problem. This and I see no reason to take up anymore land when I’m no longer here. I see no reason for my family to have a stone and a plot of land to look at to remember me by. This is why I’m leaning to cremation. But as this article, again, written in the Global Warming genre, argues that every other way is wrong. Is bad. Is sin. This is why it’s funny. Global Warming is a religion to some. You either follow their way or you are a sinner and you will die. {By killing the planet} However, again, it’s not real. It’s all about money and power. This is why it was written. Not to educate, as you are attempting here, but to condemn those that do not see things their way.

DR. CAMPBELL -We do take cremated remains, by the way, so if your head explodes from all of the apparent BS that it is filled with, we will be glad to do your disposition.

PETER -{Laughing} OK, Dr. If I die in your area, you can handle the cremation. {Smile} I have no problem with that at all. But I’m not planning on departing anytime soon.

Sincerely, thank you again for coming on the OPN and attempting to educate people and tell your side of this issue. I’m sure that you have enlightened many people. Again, I have no problem with personal choice. My problem comes when some tell me that I have to follow THEIR personal choice, or that I am wrong, evil, or to blame for the end of the world if I do not.

If you folks want to learn more about Dr. Billy Campbell or Memorial Ecosystems, you can check it out on the web. I’ll be back later tonight or tomorrow with the article about the problems of the search for alternative fuel. I warned you about this. Have a great day.
Peter