Don’t bury newspapers quite yet … oh, wait …

Published 4:57 pm Friday, December 28, 2007

Hah. That’s a big hah to all those who insist on predicting the death of newspapers simply because the Internet exists.

We’re big believers that people want more media choices, not fewer. Newspapers already have lot of great attributes, none of which are diminished by the presence of news on the Web. And now newspapers have yet another use beyond the traditional:

In January, a Portland woman is opening The Natural Burial Company, which will sell a variety of eco-friendly burial products, including biodegradable coffins. They are part of a larger trend toward “green” burials, which require no formaldehyde embalming, cement vaults, chemical lawn treatments or laminated caskets.

One such product made and popularized in the United Kingdom is the Ecopod, a kayak-shaped coffin made out of recycled newspapers. Ahem. A laptop-lined casket would be bad for the environment.