Cremation Bad For The Planet
From Agence France-Presse (Whatever happened to Reuters?)
An Australian scientist called Wednesday for an end to the age-old tradition of cremation, saying the practice contributed to global warming. Incinerating one body can produce more than 50 kilograms of carbon dioxide.
...people could help the environment by being buried in a cardboard box under a tree. The decomposing bodies would provide the tree with nutrients and the tree would convert carbon dioxide into life-giving oxygen for decades.....what a shame to be cremated when you go up in a big bubble of carbon dioxide...Why waste all that carbon dioxide on your death?....it would not be a bad idea to bequeath one's body as food for a forest....You can actually do, after your death, an enormous amount of good for the planet....
The guy is a Reproductive Biologist which maybe explains why he doesn't seem to realise that it does not matter whether some is burnt or just decomposes naturally the same amount of CO2 is produced. But he got his name in newspapers worldwide.
Help needed with astronomy
Dear All,
I never got to grips with astronomy, and my knowledge of gravitational pull is mighty thin. I would be very grateful if anybody could enlighten me on these issues...
1) If you increase the mass of the Earth ( say, by importing rubble from far off planets), would the Earth assume an orbit round the Sun that is of a smaller "radius" compared to the present one, or a larger radius? (I'm guessing a smaller radius, but may well be wrong).
2) If there is a natural change in radius, does the Earth have to be moved to it, or will it assume it of its own accord ?
Incidentally, I think that ImanCarrot's posts are two of the funniest pieces I have ever read. I was helpless. Thank-you.
Best wishes
Martin