Looking For The Green Reaper

I love roaming cemeteries, but I’ll admit it is disheartening to realize how “un-green” a burial can be. In honor of Earth Day, which is today, we’ll take a brief look at some of the more environmentally friendly options available when you finally “slip the surly bonds of earth" for good.

Not Your Grandparents Funerals

Embalming During the Civil War

During the Civil War, embalming was used so that a soldier’s remains could be sent back to the family, when possible. In the coming years, embalming became accepted as experts touted the therapeutic advantages of having an open coffin, allowing the family more time to “say good-bye.”

Today, modern embalming assures the family a few days to hold a visitation and funeral for the deceased without purification setting in. But is it necessary? Not really! Embalming is required by law only in cases when death has occurred due to certain contagious diseases, or if the body must be transported a long distance. So what are the environmental effects of death on our planet?

According to Seven Ponds, a group that promotes harmony with the environment, even in death, “Adverse environmental effects of embalming fluids leaching into the ground following a body’s burial have yet to be adequately established, but over 800,000 gallons of embalming fluid are introduced into U.S. soil every year through burial, sometimes disconcertingly close to animal and plant life.“

What Are Greener Options?

There are several alternatives including cremation, natural burial, and a “green” funeral. Here’s a quick breakdown on each.

Cremation

Crematorium

Cremation is on the rise, thanks to Baby Boomers looking for more economical burial methods, and willing to take a stand for the environment. The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) predicted that the rate of cremation would exceed that of burial by 3% for 2015. By 2025, it is predicted that 56% of Americans will choose cremation. This change is also due, in part, to many religious faiths that now embrace cremation, where once it was discouraged.

Carbon Emissions

But cremation also has its drawbacks, mainly due to carbon emissions. One cremation produces the same carbon emissions as driving a car 500 miles. To counter this, request a casket that is made of  wicker or recycled cardboard. Or consider having the body placed in a shroud of organic material.

Also request that any medical parts be removed and recycled, if possible. (Pacemakers and prosthetic limbs are both recyclable.) Tooth fillings should also be removed before cremation because they can create toxic mercury emissions.

Once the body has been cremated, (remember cremation is a process), the cremains should have a final resting place designated. Cremains may be buried or placed in a columbarium, (Consider a biodegradable urn.) The cremains may be scattered in a special location (Launched into space, and placed on coral reefs are just two options.), or returned in an urn or box to the family.

You might also consider making a contribution to Carbon Fund, as a way to offset your carbon footprint.

Natural Burial

Natural Burial

A natural burial is when the body is buried without any chemical preservatives such as embalming fluid. A shroud may be used to wrap the body, or it may be placed in a biodegradable coffin made of organic material such as bamboo, recycled cardboard or recycled newspaper. No concrete vault is used; the body is placed directing in the earth. GPS may be used to locate the burial plots; the goal is to preserve nature as it is, and to sustain natural plants and wildlife in the area.

Green Cemeteries

Green Cemetery

Green Cemeteries started to really catch on with the eco-conscious at the beginning of the 21^st century. (The first green cemetery was created in 1993 in England at Carlisle Cemetery.) These green graveyards are natural settings filled with plants, native grasses and flowers, trees and bushes. Monuments and tombstones are not allowed but natural rocks and trees are usually permitted to mark the grave.

Many traditional cemeteries now offer special sections where green burials are held. And remember, a green cemetery will not use any pesticides, herbicides or irrigation.

Green Funerals

Green Funeral

A green funeral advocates the phrase, “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” A green funeral may include any or all of these elements: no embalming, or embalming with formaldehyde-free products, use of a biodegradable shroud and/or coffin, burial in a natural setting or in a cemetery without the use of a vault. Recycled paper products such as memorial cards and programs may be used, along with locally grown flowers and plants for the service and grave.

Each of us can work to reduce our carbon footprint during our lives. And, yes, we can also continue to do good, and honor the environment, after we’re gone …

~ Joy

A Look at Columbariums

Outside Columbarium

Similar to a mausoleum, a private or public structure that holds coffins, a columbarium is a structure that has niches or vaults to hold urns that contain cremains (cremated remains).

Six-sided Columbarium

It may consist of a wall or ground structure built of stone, brick, granite, or marble.  Or, it may be in a building where coffins and urns are placed in a comfortable environment with areas of reflection for family members to use when visiting.

Roman Columbarium

Roman Columba

Columbariums were first used by the Romans.  The ashes of loved ones were put in ornate urns and placed in sacred underground chambers, which were decorated with frescos and mosaics.  The word columbarium is from the Latin term columba which means, “dwelling place of the dove.” A columba originally meant a sectional housing structure for doves and pigeons, what is now called a dovecote.

Interior Columbarium

For hundreds of years, churches were the main places where columbariums were found. Many Catholic churches have columbariums located in them. The most favored locations for religious columbariums are within the church, or in church cemeteries.

Resurrection Mausoleum & Columbarium

Pickle Studio

One such columbarium is in the Midwest.  The Resurrection Mausoleum and Columbarium in Justice, Illinois, was constructed in 1969.  The Conrad Pickel Studio of Vero Beach, Florida, began work on the stained glass windows in the early 1960’s.  Over 22,000 square feet of faceted glass were used in the designs. 

Inside Resurrection

Outside Resurrection

This site has become a major architectural landmark and its faceted glass walls are the largest glass installation in the world.

The Resurrection Mausoleum and Columbarium is located at 7201 Archer Avenue in the Chicago suburb of Justice.  For more information phone (708) 449-6100 or visit http://www.catholiccemeterieschicago.org

Buddhist Columbarium

Since ancient times, Buddhism has also allowed the ashes of the deceased to be placed in urns and deposited in columbariums.  These structures may be attached to a Buddhist temple.

Exterior Columbariium

Mausoleum & Columbarium in Indianapolis

Now, public cemeteries and mausoleums have also added columbariums to their options.  A columbarium may be a freestanding unit, or part of a large, public mausoleum.

Inside Marble Niches

The structure may consist of an outdoor wall containing niches.  Or may be inside a building constructed just for this purpose. 

For Urns & Caskets

Columbariums are also located in public mausoleums, built in walls, along side the vaults for coffins.

The cremation urns or boxes are usually a specific size and are placed inside the lined columbarium niche.  The door is then closed and locked. 

Niche doors may be decorated with the deceased’s photo, or symbols of their life.

Garden Wall Columbarium

Columbariums allow family members another option when burial of a loved one may be too costly, or too far removed from where they are.  This lets the family “move” a loved one with them, if the need arises, yet still provides a special place where family and friends can remember and memorialize their loved one.

Interior Columbarium

A columbarium does not require an in-earth burial, but instead, allows for the interment of a loved one in a structure, away from the elements.  Most columbariums have seating available for the comfort of those who come to visit, and reflect.  As our world becomes more populated, you will see the need for more columbariums.  Will they eventually replace in-ground cemeteries?  Only time will tell…

~ Joy