Green Burial

This is fairly self explanatory.  The burial process is completely natural and simple.  The decedent can have no toxic chemicals in the body, such as embalming fluid.  No vaults can be used in the burial, and the burial container must be made of biodegradable materials.  Any shroud or burial garment must be biodegradable also.  More and more approved “Natural Burial” facilities are appearing across the United States.  The Green Burial Council (www.greenburialcouncil.org) has a list of approved providers and the standards necessary for approval.

A green burial can also be used with cremation.  You must use a biodegradable urn as well.  And any green burial promotes the growth of shrubs and wildflowers.  This process is totally in tune with nature and certainly helps preserve the rapidly diminishing open space in the US.

Here is a wonderful explanation of the process used at Forever Fernwood, a Green Cemetery in northern California:  “Natural burial at Fernwood uses no toxic embalming fluids, no vault, and only a biodegradable casket or a burial shroud.  Natural rocks, wildflowers, shrubs and trees serve as markers and each grave is locatable via Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates (I love that!). The land stewardship and restoration program at Fernwood is integrated with cemetery and burial ritual.  Each tree, flower, songbird, boulder and butterfly becomes a memorial to a loved one and a hope for the future.” www.foreverfernwood.com

I have to say I’m leaning strongly toward some sort of Green funeral.  I was, however, surprised at the expense.  I assumed since a human body is biodegradable (okay, maybe the bones will take a bit longer) you would sort of just “lease” a plot and after a set number of years, the cemetery would be free to lease the plot to someone else for burial.  This just makes sense.  But that isn’t the case yet.  A plot in several the green cemeteries I checked with ranges from $6000-$9000 for a full body plot and from $3000-$6000 for a cremation spot.  And you get that spot forever.   I’m thinking they should just dig the original hole about 15 feet deep.  The first person gets the bottom two feet, then soil is added and then another person gets the next two feet, and so on and so on.  You could bury seven people in the same spot. A much better use of available land.  But I digress.

There are some astonishing containers available for green burials. Please have a look in the “Coffins and Urns” area.  And several types of burial shroud can be found easily according to your preferences.