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

Dying Green

Earth Day is Sunday April 22^nd, so this seems the perfect time to take a look at ‘going’ green with funerals and burials.

We live ‘green.’  Why not die green?  The term “green” refers to a practice that is not harmful to the environment – something that is natural. For many, a green funeral and/or burial are ethical choices, a simple decision to go back to nature. 

Embalming during the Civil War

1940's Funeral Home Post Card

Natural burials date back thousands of years.  This is how we’ve buried our dead for centuries. But natural burial fell out of favor during the Civil War. That’s when embalming was utilized in order to transport bodies back home to be buried.  By the end of the nineteenth century natural burial had dropped off, and by the mid twentieth century funeral homes were playing a major part in the private ritual of death and burial.

Technician ready to embalm a body

Contrary to popular thought, you do not have to have the deceased embalmed.  Embalming is never required for the first 24 after death. Also, you have a set amount of time to bury a body before embalming may be required according to your state law. According to Funeral Consumers Alliance, http://www.funerals.org/  “There is no public health purpose served by embalming.” However, the Federal Trade Commission does allow funeral homes to require embalming for public viewing.

Caskets

Viewing Room

A traditional funeral and burial includes several elements. Among them, transportation of the deceased, embalming, a viewing, a religious or memorial service, possibly a few words at the grave side, a plot, casket, opening and closing of the grave, a vault and liner, and a grave marker.  When added up, a traditional funeral and burial will cost around $10,000! 

Hand dug grave

Natural Burial Area

A green funeral can be held outside in a natural setting, at a loved one’s home, or at a special place of remembrance. A funeral home is not required.  With a green or natural funeral, the body is not embalmed and no toxins are used to preserve it.

Each year, 22,500 cemeteries across the United States bury approximately:

30 million board feet of  hardwood (caskets)

90,272 tons of steel (caskets)

14,000 tons of steel (vaults)

2,700 tons of copper and bronze (caskets)

1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete (vaults)

827,060 US gallons of embalming fluid, which includes formaldehyde.

(Wikipedia)

Wicker Casket

Cardboard Coffin

A green burial is one that is done with a biodegradable container, which is nontoxic to the environment such as a cardboard or wicker coffin.  Wicker coffins may be woven from willow, seagrass or bamboo and pine.

Shroud

Shrouds are also an option and are still used in many cultures and religions including Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Christianity.  A shroud is a long piece of cloth, usually made of cotton or linen in which the body is wrapped. The shroud is then placed directly into the grave without a casket. 

Red Bud as Grave Marker

Rock Grave Stone

Green cemeteries are just that – natural and green.  Pesticides, herbicides and some fertilizers are not allowed.  They do not allow metal coffins, concrete vaults or headstones.  Instead the body is put in a degradable coffin or shroud and placed in the grave with a flat rock, plant or tree serving as the grave marker. Some green cemeteries are using GPS coordinates to locate graves.

Evergreen Grave Marker

Natural Grave

Natural cemeteries also dig the graves by hand, and the body is laid to rest without equipment.  Landscaping is made up of plants and trees native to the area, with the cemetery resembling a woodland.  England has over 200 green cemeteries while in the U.S., a the idea is just catching on.  But the trend is growing. Many traditional cemeteries are opening sections that are only for green burials. The Green Burial Council http://www.greenburialcouncil.org has established the United State’s first certifiable standards for funeral providers, cremation facilities and cemeteries regarding green burial.  To locate a natural burial site, visit http://naturalburial.coop/USA/

Natural Cemetery

Stone Marker

Green funerals and burials are much less expensive than traditional ones.  Burial in a green cemetery can run from $1,000 to $5,000, including the plot, opening and closing of the grave, and a one-time charge for perpetual care. The majority of the cost for green burial goes for maintenance, landscaping and conservation of the property.

Rock Salt Urns

Raku Urns

There are other ways to go green in death.  Cremation is another option.  Remains may be placed in a biodegradable urn and  buried, dropped over water, or scattered. If you decide to urn the remains, you can still go green with an urn crafted from handmade paper, rock salt or bamboo.

Scattering Cremains

Biodegradable Urn

Cremation can run $1,000 to 2,000 before burial, if desired.  Most green cemeteries have a donation charge for scattering remains of $200 to $300.  Burying cremated remains can run from $200 to $1,000.

Eternal Reef Underwater

Water Urn

Water burial is another option for a green burial.  This can entail a full body sea burial where the unembalmed body is wrapped in a shroud before being lowered into the water.  Or you could choose cremation and have the ashes scattered over a body of water, or put in a water urn and dropped into it.  You might rather choose to have your cremains become part of a man-made (literally) reef.  http://www.EternalReefs.com offers several options including having the manmade reef added to a living coral reef.

Mountain Home

Family Farm

You can consider being buried on your own plot of land.  Home burial is an option and is allowed in most parts of the United States.  Check your state’s laws on acreage requirements. Home funerals are also allowed but may require the assistance of a home funeral practitioner or a licensed funeral home director.  Again, review the laws for your state.

According to AARP – 21% of people over the age of 50 would prefer an eco –friendly, ‘green’ end of life ritual as opposed to a traditional funeral.  Maybe its time we ‘got back to nature’ and started respecting not only the planet, but ourselves as well.  Green burials follow the natural cycle of life, returning the body back to the earth in the least obtrusive manner. 

“Ashes to ashes – dust to dust.”  Indeed - How true!  How green!

~ Joy