Free Your Cremains

This Wired story from September 2002 summarizes a couple of the most interesting things that you can now do with cremated remains, aka "creamains."

The ones that I've looked into are:
•Diamonds
•Artificial Coral Reefs
•Earth Orbit

The article also mentions an artist who incorporated cremains into paintings, however the website link no longer works. Obviously, some of these ideas have stuck around longer than others.

Eco-Burial

Eco-Burial, or environmentally sensitive burial, has been getting more notice lately.
The NYT Magazine (Jan 1, 2008) mentions that in 2007, the first American was buried in an Eco-Pod, a recycled and bio-degradeable paper coffin. There are organizations supporting the cause, like Forest of Memories, promoting the development of Eco-Burial in the U.S. and Canada. Cardboard Casket even has a few images of the most basic casket you can get. The obvious ideas is that you are planted in to the earth, and your cardboard casket and you break down over a period of time. Traditional embalming doesn't allow the natural decomposition of the human body, nor does the coffin break down over time to allow the body to return to the ground.