re: Are burials wasteful?

No personal choice, where one size fits all is the mark of communism.

Having choices is the mark and way of a better, freer society.

Let those who chose to honor the dead do so how they want. Say what you want but a well done funeral service is carthartic and even life affirming. Family ties are strengthened by a traditional wake & service in a way no incineration quite pulls off.

Hopefully people will repect you enough and for those you leave behind to come to your funeral. You can't imagine the devastation of a family where no one bothered to come to the funeral. That's tragic.