Saving the Planet: Green Burials
The month of April transitions from cold to warm. From dormancy to vibrancy. From brown to green. A re-awakening of Mother Nature after a winter hibernation. A “greening”, so to speak.
Green burials are the latest trend in the death and dying arena. More and more Americans are rejecting traditional funerals and burials that include expensive coffins, lots of flowers, embalming and a number of other, oftentimes, expensive add-ons that pollute the earth and take up precious land. They embrace a friendly environmental stewardship or conservation of the land.
According to a survey released in 2020 by the National Funeral Directors Association, nearly 54 percent of Americans are considering a green burial and 72 percent of cemeteries are reporting an increased demand. People who desire green burials want to be buried in a park, green area, or nature preserve. They desire to restore their own personal relationship with nature in the cycle of life and renewal. It is economical. It is natural. It is green. It is calm. It is peaceful. It is meditative. It is biodegradable.
Those who think “green” desire to minimize negative environmental effects by forgoing embalming, skipping concrete vaults, rethinking burial containers and maintaining and protecting natural habitat. Their choices involve the limitation of waste, reduction of carbon footprint and nourishment of the local ecosystem. Green burials negate the need for embalming chemicals and the extraneous non-biodegradable materials that conventional burials contaminate the earth with.
Some choose a “green” funeral to control cost. Funeral costs vary from state to state and cemetery to cemetery. The national median cost of a funeral is about $8,500 according to the National Funeral Directors Association. While green graves are comparably priced to the traditional grave, the savings of a green burial are significant.
Other greeners choose cremation as a way to nourish and save the land, as well as to save money. However, the pH of cremated ashes create a carbon footprint that doesn’t necessarily get absorbed into the soil for the good of the land. This carbon footprint has been calculated to be the equivalent of a 500-mile car journey. There are products such as “Letyourlovegrow” which can be mixed in with cremains, restoring the ashes to a more neutral pH making them more absorbable into the soil, reducing the carbon footprint left behind.
Perhaps the most personal reason of all for a green burial is because it simply “speaks to a person”, giving him or her comfort in the idea of returning one’s body to nature.
The extent of how green a burial can be is up to the individual. The burial can be as simple as wrapping the deceased in a cotton shroud before lowering them into the ground or involve a more complicated process that includes a memorial ceremony and burial in a conservation park, with or without a grave marker, where families can choose to plant a variety of plants, flowers and shrubs on the grave.
Although a current trend, green burials are not entirely new ideas. The funeral traditions of many religions, such as Judaism and Islam, for example, align themselves with green processes. In a traditional Jewish or Islamic burial, the body is rarely embalmed. It is dressed in a biodegradable white cotton/muslin or linen shroud. Besides being easily biodegradable, the shroud makes each one of us appear equal in the eyes of our Creator. The body is traditionally buried in plain, non-chemical or hardware containing coffins or other such vessels, made of biodegradable pine, wicker or cardboard. You can even choose to be buried without a coffin. There’s no embalming chemicals. There’s no fancy clothing. There’s a oneness with the earth. A oneness between the body, the soul, the land and the Creator.
Death and life are cycles- flip sides of the same coin. In my own practice as a Patient-Senior-Caregiver Advocate and End of Life-Death Doula, I spend a lot of time discussing end of life planning with my clients. It is an integral part of the advocacy and end of life planning process. It is unique and deeply personal. It is never a pleasant topic. If you desire a green burial, you must plan for it. It won’t happen on its own. Talk with your family. Talk with your clergy. Talk with your preferred funeral home. Talk with your local Cemetery..
