Green Burial: An Eco-Friendly Alternative to Modern Funerals
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Until the early 1800s, end of life arrangements were made at home. Families arranged home funerals and buried their dead in the family plot. This natural approach was the societal norm, and families had a more harmonious relationship with end of life practices and rituals.
The Civil War changed all this; as the deceased traveled long distances from the battlefield on journeys that could last days or weeks, the practice of embalming with arsenic, mercury and other toxic chemicals to preserve the bodies on their long journeys home formed the basis for the modern funeral industry.
These practices, developed out of necessity, soon became the norm. American society quickly forgot its long-held practice of home funerals. The funeral industry, which relies on making money selling fancy caskets to grieving people, perpetuated the myth that it is somehow unhealthy and dangerous to bury bodies without hermetically sealed containers.
Modern funeral industry practices need to be reexamined. Not only do modern funerals invoke a terrible environmental cost, they are more expensive while effectively disconnecting families from the natural process of grieving and healing the loss of a loved one.
What is a Green Burial?
Home funerals, natural burials, or ‘green burials’ offer a more harmonious, less expensive, and ultimately more spiritual alternative to modern funerals. Green burials forgo embalming, utilize biodegradable caskets and are growing in popularity as families seek a more natural approach to end of life rituals.
I’ve been a passionate advocate of green burial practices for the past decade after starting my company, Colorful Coffins. My inspiration came in 1999 while living in Yorkshire, England. I began to think that when my turn comes all I want is a plain pine box painted with all the things I loved in life.
After returning to the States, I fell in love with the television series Six Feet Under. It was so cleverly written, the characters were fascinating, and the theme was something major networks hadn’t yet given much airtime. I realized then that the taboo was lifting, and there was a future for the green burial movement in the U.S.
The more I delved into green burial practices, the more I appreciated the environmental damage caused by the modern funeral industry.
In the United States, we bury over 800,000 gallons of embalming fluid; 104,000 tons of steel (enough to build the Golden Gate Bridge; 2,700 tons of copper, 30 million board feet of hardwoods; and 1,600,000 tons of concrete -- enough to build a two-lane highway from New York to Detroit!
Many who watched Six Feet Under may recall Nate burying his wife in a shroud in a park like setting, a good illustration of a natural burial ground where the land is left natural, there are no concrete vaults, lawn mowers, watering or pesticides and herbicides. The idea is to create a natural park like environment open to the public in perpetuity.
Ramsey Creek Preserve is the first and best-known natural burial ground in South Carolina presenting a natural landscape and native plants. Graves are marked with flat stones surrounded by native trees with only 100 people buried per acre. (compared to 800 per acre in Arlington National Cemetery).
A good example of how a green burial site can benefit an entire community is a project. Enter the Oakland Land Conservancy, which is buying up undeveloped land for protection. Then together with a farmer/landowner on an adjacent farm, working on a protection plan with the help of the Green Burial Council and the county and state all playing a role.
Instead of farmers selling to developers, they can make a donation of the land to the conservation group/green burial park and receive a tax right-off. This is why it’s critical to keep a percentage of the burial money in case land needs to be purchased to add to the mix.
The Green Burial Council (GBC) has certified its first conservation burial ground in the Galisteo Basin near Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The Future of Green Burial
The green burial movement is growing. A few years ago the AARP carried out a survey about people’s burial wishes. They discovered that 70% wanted a green burial and 18.6% a cremation. Only 8% wanted a burial in the current fashion.
The Green Burial Council in Santa Fe, New Mexico encourages ethical and environmentally sustainable death-care practices.
By partnering with organizations such as the National Programs for the Trust for Public Land, GBC can facilitate the restoration, acquisition and stewardship of natural areas throughout the United States. This land will be held in perpetuity. We need to educate the public. I believe the green burial movement will expand exponentially when someone of national stature gets involved.
About the Author
Jane Hillhouse is founder and owner of Final Footprint, a home funeral and green burial business based in Half Moon Bay, California.
Final Footprint supplies biodegradable caskets, urns, and ash containers to families and mortuaries wishing to fulfill the publics’ wishes to be more respectful of their environmental footprint.
Through outreach at conferences, festivals, and media interviews, Jane provides information about the green burial process to the community and focuses on informing the public of their rights when planning their last wishes. Securing more natural burial grounds in the United States is also a major part of this picture.
Jane has served on the board of the Funeral Consumer Alliance (Palo Alto, California Chapter) and is still active in a non-voting capacity. Events she has participated in include the National Funeral Directors’ Association annual convention in Orlando, Florida in 2008 and takes part every year at the Green Festival and Earth Day Festivals in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information on Final Footprint, visit www.finalfootprint.com
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