Until recently I thought cremation was the way to go {literally} when it comes to eco-friendly funerals. But did you know there is a greener alternative?
It’s called green burial or natural burial.
Typical coffin used in green burial.
The Unites States has 22,500 cemeteries. In them, each year through traditional funerals we bury:
- 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid
- 90,272 tons of steel in caskets
- 2,700 tons of copper and bronze in caskets
- 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete in vaults
- 14,000 tons of steel in vaults
- 30+ million board feet of hardwoods in caskets
Each year! Never to be seen again. Is this a wise use of resources?
Natural burial consists of an un-embalmed body being wrapped in a degradable shroud or placed in a degradable wicker-type casket or plain unvarnished wood casket and then being buried. Interment usually occurs within 24-36 hours upon death.
There is no concrete vault. The body is usually buried 3 feet deep to remain undisturbed, but still within range of microbes to quickly decompose. The grave is mounded to allow for settling over time. Markers, if allowed, are usually flat and not readily noticeable or natural in state. Like trees or field stones. Some use GPS coordinates.
The other purpose of natural burial is to conserve land. Conservation Cemeteries, as they are called, form a protected nature reserve. Conservation Cemeteries are left in a natural state and require little maintenance. Many are prairies and woodlands and promote the growth of native plants and habitats. Only a small portion of land in the conservatory is dedicated to burial. All of it remains multi use. Often they are open to the public for hiking and recreation.
They really serve as a living memorial. You help conserve the land and your body nourishes it as it decomposes.
Traditional versus Natural Burial
With traditional and green burial, a portion of the plot sale price is set aside for maintaining the site. Traditional cemeteries require caskets to be buried in concrete vaults to keep the lawn flat. This is not a state law! Not in Wisconsin anyway. What is state law is the funds set aside for maintaining the site. In Conservation Cemeteries state law-required funds for perpetual care can be spent on restoring and protecting nature rather than mowing the lawn.
Other non-state mandated regular practices of traditional cemeteries are the heavy use of herbicides and fertilizers on their grass and injecting thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into the ground through embalming of bodies.
Embalming fluid contains formaldehyde which is listed as a “probable” carcinogen with the Environmental Protection Agency and a known carcinogen with the World Health Organization. Little study has been done as to the effects of embalming fluid leaching into the soil. The current concern comes with the embalming process. Workers have higher rates of nasal cancer and Leukemia.
So what about cremation?
Notice the cardboard box?
Like I said, until recently I thought this was what I wanted.
Cremation certainly is more eco-friendly than traditional burial, but it has its own set of woes.
Cremation burns fossil fuel, contributing to air pollution. During the process dioxin, hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and mercury from the fillings in our teeth are released.
About 1,000 to 7,800 pounds of mercury is released annually. 75% goes into the air, while the rest settles in the ground and water.
Many people don’t realize that a container is still require for cremation. You can reduce pollution by choosing a simple unlined coffin without chipboard or plastics. Chipboard coffins use toxic glue to hold the pieces together. Toxic glue containing formaldehyde. You wouldn’t want to go through the trouble of avoiding formaldehyde by forgoing the embalming process only to end up being stuffed inside a formaldehyde box.
kentcasket.com offers sustainably harvested pine boxes with no metal or plastic, rope handles and biodegradable non-toxic glue. They even sell as kits which can be broken down and stored if purchasing in advance while planning your own funeral.
Aside from the pollution concerns, there’s the energy consumption itself of cremations. You could drive 4,800 miles on the energy equivalent of one cremation. That’s to the moon and back 83 times for all US cremations done in just one year!
This has me rethinking the cremation route. The only problem is that there are only a handful of Conservation Cemeteries in the US. Several hundred are operating in the UK. You lucky bastards seem to be ahead of us on much of the environmental front.
I found a couple of traditional cemeteries in Wisconsin that are offering some version green burial, but none of them are true Conservation Cemeteries.
There are groups out there working on educating people on natural burial and securing land for Conservation Cemeteries.
- greenburials.org
- Trust for Natural Legacies, Inc.
- Green Burial Council
- The Centre for Natural Burial
I’m holding out hope that before my time comes there will be natural burial options available in my state. Until that time I’ll plan on cremation.
“You are dust and to dust you will return.” Kind of hard to do when you’re pumped full of embalming fluid, placed inside a steel box and buried in a concrete vault, don’t ya think?
To locate a green cemetery near you check out these links:
The Natural Burial Coop http://naturalburial.coop The Forest of Memories web site provides a list of established and proposed green cemeteries throughout North America and the United Kingdom. It also has links to relevant state laws.
The Green Burial Council www.greenburialcouncil.org The Green Burial Council lists green cemeteries and funeral providers that it has certified as providing sufficiently “natural” services.
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