I basically agree with the OP. Just based on the space required for burials you will eventually run into issues. Consider that once land is used for a cemetery plot that it must be left as a cemetery plot basically forever. Human population and therefore human death rates are growing exponentially. If you multiply the size of a burial plot by the number of dead people in a year and then add in exponential growth year over year you will see that pretty soon you are going to be locking up a tremendous amounts of space dedicated to the storage of dead people. Considering the fact that we have a limited amount of land to begin with and then start to set aside more and more of it dedicated to permanent storage of dead people, you will see that we will have to find a new way to handle the way we “dispose” of dead bodies.

The above only takes into consideration the space taken up by the bodies. There are other concerns that may appear inconsequential when discussing burying just one body but become major issues when you again apply the exponential growth in burials:

1) Chemicals. The embalming fluid in one body is not a big deal but when you multiply that by the millions of burials per year you are talking about a growing toxicological mess. 2) Resources tied up in burials. Some resources used in burials are renewable such as wood, fabric, etc. but some are not. That beautiful shiny metal casket is made up of non renewable resources that are now being permanently tied up in use. 3) Maintenance issues. When you buy that burial plot you may be offered to purchase “eternal” care which is money that is supposed to be set aside in a trust fund dedicated to maintaining your cemetery plot. (Think grass cutting, leaf cleaning, snow plowing of roads in the cemetery, etc.) The chances of that money being invested properly to really provide eternal care of your plot is almost non-existent. Who is going to pay for the upkeep of a cemetery that has been full for 100+ years and can no longer count on new “clients” to pay for the upkeep? Tax dollars will be spent maintaining vast plots of land that provide no use other than storage of dead bodies.

Those are just some of the issues that I came up with off the top of my head. I’m sure that there are others.

So what is one possible option to solve some of these issues? I could see new green cemeteries starting a plot rental business. When you die you are buried without embalming in a biodegradable caskets. Instead of buying your plot you or your family rent your burial plot for however many years you desire with maybe a three to five year minimum. You are then buried in your plot and left to decompose. Your family can come and visit your gravesite just like they do now. After your rental period is up, your plot is now available for rental to the next occupant. There could be a park like area in one section of the cemetery that has a monument with all of the details on everyone who has ever been buried. This way if 90 years in the future a family member wants to see where their great-great-grandfather is buried they can go to the park section and see all of the relevant info listed in the memorial.

I know that changing the way that we deal with the long term storage of dead people will be difficult for a lot of people due to religious, emotional, and personal reasons but in the long term it is a change that we will have to face.