Eco-cemetery
Encyclopedia
Natural burial is a process by which the body
of a deceased person is interred in the soil
in a manner that does not inhibit decomposition
and allows the body to recycle
naturally. It is seen as an alternative to contemporary Western burial methods.
fluid that may destroy the microbial decomposers active in breaking the body down. It may be buried in a biodegradable coffin
, casket, or shroud
. The grave does not use a burial vault
or outer burial container that prohibits the body's contact with soil. The grave should be dug to a depth shallow enough to allow microbial activity similar to that found in composting. Natural burials can take place on both private land (per regulations) and in any cemetery
that will accommodate the vault-free technique.
management techniques (sustainable agriculture
, restoration ecology
, habitat conservation
projects, permaculture
, etc.). These may vary widely from site to site and are used to maintain the burial area in perpetuity. Landscaping methods may enhance or slow down the decomposition rate of bodies, depending upon soil-system factors.
's secondary purpose is to temporarily retard decomposition
for viewing and as such it can be deemed inconsistent with the objectives of natural burial. Non-toxic and naturally derived embalming fluids without formaldehyde cure most objections to ground contamination.
No state or province in North America requires routine embalming
of bodies. When specified by state ordinance (usually within 24 hours of death), mechanical refrigeration or chilling by using dry ice
or some other method can be substituted for embalming. The goal of cooling is to lower the body's temperature below 36 degrees F, retarding the microbial growth present during decomposition. Many cultures around the world use no artificial cooling at all, and bodies are regularly held for several days prior to final disposition.
Special circumstances such as an extended time between death and burial and transportation of remains on commercial flights that do not currently permit unembalmed bodies to travel may necessitate embalming.
The most common embalming fluid is composed of organical chemical and contains a 5-29% formaldehyde, ethanol and water. This solution is technically biodegradable over time, but it cross-links proteins found in tissue cell membranes; slowing bacterial decomposition and inhibits the body's breakdown in the earth. The potential for embalming fluid to contaminate soil or water tables has not been studied thoroughly, though is unlikely because of formaldehyde's reaction in an alkaline environment, such as some soils, but it must be noted that not all soils are alkaline; the formaldehyde goes through the Cannizzaro reaction and becomes Urotropin, which is commonly used as a hardener in foundry molds.
Formaldehyde is a suspected carcinogen and can have deleterious health effects for workers exposed to it in high quantities. It is implicated in cancer, ALS, nervous system disorders, and other ailments. OSHA can require embalmers to wear respirators if the Permissible Exposure Limit air exchange allowance is surpassed, which may put funeral home workers at risk.
Coffins (tapered shoulder shape) and caskets (rectangular shape) are made from a variety of materials. Most of them are not biodegradable. 80-85% of the caskets sold for burial in North America in 2006 were stamped steel. Solid wood and particle board (chipboard) coffins with hardwood veneers comprise 10-15% of the sales, with fiberglass and alternative materials (such as woven fiber) making up the rest.In Australia 85-90% of coffins are solid wood and particle board.
Most traditional caskets in the UK are made from chipboard covered in a thin veneer. Handles are usually plastic designed to look like brass. The chipboard requires glue to stick the wood particles together. Some glues that are used, such as those that contain formaldehyde, are seen as environmentally unfriendly. There is concern that such glues will cause pollution when they are burned during cremation or degrading in the ground. However, not all engineered wood products are produced using formaldehyde glues.
Caskets and coffins are often manufactured using exotic and in some cases endangered species of wood and designed to prevent decomposition. While there are generally no restrictions on the type of coffin used, most sites encourage the use of environmentally friendly coffins made from cardboard or wicker. A simple cotton shroud is another option.
and helps create habitat
.
Irrigation
, pesticides, herbicides, and synthetic fertilizers may be significantly reduced or eliminated altogether, in favor of non-toxic and less resource-dependent vegetation support and control.
(Compiled from statistics by Casket and Funeral Association of America, Cremation Association of North America, Doric Inc., The Rainforest Action Network, and Mary Woodsen, Pre-Posthumous Society)
or the slow putrefaction of encased corpses.
in 1993 and was called woodland burial. Greenhaven Woodland Burial Ground
in the village of Lilbourne
, Rugby
, was the first privately owned natural burial ground when it opened a year later. Over 200 dedicated natural burial sites have been created in the UK, and the industry in the UK has a code of practice administered by The Association of Natural Burial Grounds.'
The Association of Natural Burial Grounds (ANBG) was established by The Natural Death Centre in 1994. Its aims and objects have remained unchanged. It seeks to assist people in the process of establishing sites, to provide guidance to burial ground operators and to represent its members as a whole, and, not least, the Association has a Code of Conduct for members thus providing the public with assurance as to long-term security. On their website is a comprehensive UK directory of all the Natural Burial Grounds.
The Natural Death Centre (NDC) is a charity run by Rosie Inman-Cook that is dedicated to encouraging openness around death and dying, particularly through funerals, and to imagining creative, sustainable solutions to the practical and spiritual problems of our mortality. They also publish and sell The Natural Death Handbook, which is a 'must read' for anyone interested in this subject.
Ken West, professional cemeterian from 1961–2006, and life-long amateur naturalist, introduced woodland burial as a concept to the City of Carlisle in England in 1993, leading with a "Living Churchyard" project that returned owls, voles, and other creatures to the city cemetery by ending mowing and adding wildflowers and forage. West's achievements include being instrumental in establishing the Association of Natural Burial Grounds; creating the Charter for the Bereaved; being awarded an MBE
by HRH Prince Charles in 2002 for services to burial and cremation; advising Parliament on managing pandemics and creating environmental burial services; current judge for annual UK natural burial competition; senior technical advisor for the Sustainable Cemetery Management Group and Natural End, a non-profit US organization that helps municipal and non-profit cemeteries to transition to sustainable alternatives.
, an environmentalist
, and a pioneer in the Green Burial Movement in the USA, opened the first modern "green cemetery" in North America
.
Joe Sehee is a leading advocate of the Green Burial Movement in the United States
. Joe is the executive director of the Green Burial Council, an organization he founded to encourage sustainability
in the death care industry and to use the burial process as a means of facilitating ecological restoration and landscape level conservation.
The organization recently established the nation's first certifiable standards for cemeteries, funeral providers
, and cremations facilities
. Conventional funeral providers in eight states will now be offering the Green Burial Council approved burial package, providing a way for consumer to identify death care professionals willing to assist them with environmentally conscious end-of-life rituals.
Tyler Cassity rose to prominence in the death care industry by taking a bankrupt cemetery in the center of Los Angeles
on the southern boundary of Hollywood and turning it into Hollywood Forever, where he had movies projected on the side of Rudolph Valentino’s
mausoleum
, and displayed his “LifeStories,” which are A&E
-style video biographies of the dead. His cemetery is the final resting place to many of Hollywood's legends. Tyler Cassity has been involved in several films and has worked as a consultant on HBO's Six Feet Under.
The Fernwood Burial Ground in Marin County's Mill Valley dates from the 19th century and is adjacent to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area
. Tyler Cassity's Forever Enterprises purchased it in 2004. The Fernwood property is 32 acres (129,499.5 m²) with most of it set aside for natural burial with no tombstones or caskets. Instead, bodies are buried there in ways that aid natural decomposition
, and survivors can locate their loved-ones’ burial site with a handheld device that contains a GPS location finder.
Mary Woodsen is a trustee and officer (president) of Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve in Newfield
, New York
.
Mary also a long-time member of the Finger Lakes Land Trust, which protects 8,000 acres (32 km²) in the Finger Lakes
and Southern Rivers regions, the Cayuga chapter of Keeping Track (a national organization working with local groups around the country that document the presence of keystone wildlife species in their areas, the better to inform decisions about local and regional land use), a task force looking at conservation zoning in her township of Danby, the Society of Environmental Journalists
, the Society of Conservation Biology, and the National Association of Science Writers
.
Theresa Purcell currently serves as board president of the green burial land trust Trust for Natural Legacies. As a 501(c)3 non-profit, Trust for Natural Legacies is both a traditional land trust working to establish cemetery nature preserves and also establishing itself as a "natural burial" cemetery umbrella organization where other green cemeteries can network directly with each other, share best practices and engage in continuing professional education (similar to what the Land Trust Alliance offers to nature preserves and the International Cemetery, Cremation & Funeral Association offers for cemeteries). TNL is based out of Minneapolis, MN and operates in the Midwestern states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Michigan.
Gordon Maupin, Executive Director of The Wilderness Center, Inc. a nonprofit nature center and land trust in Ohio started Foxfield Preserve. Foxfield Preserve is the first nature preserve cemetery to be operated by a nonprofit conservation organization. Foxfield Preserve is formerly agricultural land. The Wilderness Center is restoring part of the site to native prairie grasses and wildflowers and reforesting part of the preserve. Foxfield Preserve is adjacent to The Wilderness Center's 600 acres (2.4 km²) headquarters tract near Wilmot, Ohio.
Selena Fox is founder and director of Circle Cemetery, located at Circle Sanctuary Nature Preserve in southwestern Wisconsin and one of the first Green Cemeteries in North America. Fox has been conducting Green funerals and memorials for more than thirty years as part of her work as senior minister of Circle Sanctuary
, an international Wiccan church which she founded in 1974. She is an advocate and media spokesperson for Greening the End of life – interviews with her have been carried in a variety of broadcast and in-print media sources as well as on-line over the years.
. The principal of Earthartist Planning and Design, Salisbury provides planning design and consultation to groups throughout North America involved in establishing new natural burial grounds.
The Natural Burial Association (NBA) is an independent, non-profit organization established to help reduce the environmental impacts of conventional death care practices through education and awareness, and to leverage the sustained popularity of burial towards the acquisition, renewal and permanent protection of Canada’s natural lands for the benefit of people and the environment.
Cadaver
A cadaver is a dead human body.Cadaver may also refer to:* Cadaver tomb, tomb featuring an effigy in the form of a decomposing body* Cadaver , a video game* cadaver A command-line WebDAV client for Unix....
of a deceased person is interred in the soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
in a manner that does not inhibit decomposition
Decomposition
Decomposition is the process by which organic material is broken down into simpler forms of matter. The process is essential for recycling the finite matter that occupies physical space in the biome. Bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death...
and allows the body to recycle
Biogeochemical cycle
In ecology and Earth science, a biogeochemical cycle or substance turnover or cycling of substances is a pathway by which a chemical element or molecule moves through both biotic and abiotic compartments of Earth. A cycle is a series of change which comes back to the starting point and which can...
naturally. It is seen as an alternative to contemporary Western burial methods.
Natural burial - the body
The body may be prepared without chemical preservatives or disinfectants such as embalmingEmbalming
Embalming, in most modern cultures, is the art and science of temporarily preserving human remains to forestall decomposition and to make them suitable for public display at a funeral. The three goals of embalming are thus sanitization, presentation and preservation of a corpse to achieve this...
fluid that may destroy the microbial decomposers active in breaking the body down. It may be buried in a biodegradable coffin
Coffin
A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...
, casket, or shroud
Shroud
Shroud usually refers to an item, such as a cloth, that covers or protects some other object. The term is most often used in reference to burial sheets, winding-cloths or winding-sheets, such as the famous Shroud of Turin or Tachrichim that Jews are dressed in for burial...
. The grave does not use a burial vault
Burial vault (enclosure)
A burial vault is a sturdy box designed to protect the coffin inside of it. The body is placed within the coffin, which is then placed inside the vault. Body, coffin, and vault are buried. A burial vault serves as an outer enclosure for buried remains; the coffin serves as an inner enclosure.Vaults...
or outer burial container that prohibits the body's contact with soil. The grave should be dug to a depth shallow enough to allow microbial activity similar to that found in composting. Natural burials can take place on both private land (per regulations) and in any cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
that will accommodate the vault-free technique.
Natural burial - the land
The act of natural burial is distinct from landscapingLandscaping
Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including:# living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly referred to as gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal of creating a beautiful environment within the landscape.#...
management techniques (sustainable agriculture
Sustainable agriculture
Sustainable agriculture is the practice of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment...
, restoration ecology
Restoration ecology
-Definition:Restoration ecology is the scientific study and practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human intervention and action, within a short time frame...
, habitat conservation
Habitat conservation
Habitat conservation is a land management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore, habitat areas for wild plants and animals, especially conservation reliant species, and prevent their extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range...
projects, permaculture
Permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that is modeled on the relationships found in nature. It is based on the ecology of how things interrelate rather than on the strictly biological concerns that form the foundation of modern agriculture...
, etc.). These may vary widely from site to site and are used to maintain the burial area in perpetuity. Landscaping methods may enhance or slow down the decomposition rate of bodies, depending upon soil-system factors.
Embalming
EmbalmingEmbalming
Embalming, in most modern cultures, is the art and science of temporarily preserving human remains to forestall decomposition and to make them suitable for public display at a funeral. The three goals of embalming are thus sanitization, presentation and preservation of a corpse to achieve this...
's secondary purpose is to temporarily retard decomposition
Decomposition
Decomposition is the process by which organic material is broken down into simpler forms of matter. The process is essential for recycling the finite matter that occupies physical space in the biome. Bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death...
for viewing and as such it can be deemed inconsistent with the objectives of natural burial. Non-toxic and naturally derived embalming fluids without formaldehyde cure most objections to ground contamination.
No state or province in North America requires routine embalming
Embalming
Embalming, in most modern cultures, is the art and science of temporarily preserving human remains to forestall decomposition and to make them suitable for public display at a funeral. The three goals of embalming are thus sanitization, presentation and preservation of a corpse to achieve this...
of bodies. When specified by state ordinance (usually within 24 hours of death), mechanical refrigeration or chilling by using dry ice
Dry ice
Dry ice, sometimes referred to as "Cardice" or as "card ice" , is the solid form of carbon dioxide. It is used primarily as a cooling agent. Its advantages include lower temperature than that of water ice and not leaving any residue...
or some other method can be substituted for embalming. The goal of cooling is to lower the body's temperature below 36 degrees F, retarding the microbial growth present during decomposition. Many cultures around the world use no artificial cooling at all, and bodies are regularly held for several days prior to final disposition.
Special circumstances such as an extended time between death and burial and transportation of remains on commercial flights that do not currently permit unembalmed bodies to travel may necessitate embalming.
The most common embalming fluid is composed of organical chemical and contains a 5-29% formaldehyde, ethanol and water. This solution is technically biodegradable over time, but it cross-links proteins found in tissue cell membranes; slowing bacterial decomposition and inhibits the body's breakdown in the earth. The potential for embalming fluid to contaminate soil or water tables has not been studied thoroughly, though is unlikely because of formaldehyde's reaction in an alkaline environment, such as some soils, but it must be noted that not all soils are alkaline; the formaldehyde goes through the Cannizzaro reaction and becomes Urotropin, which is commonly used as a hardener in foundry molds.
Formaldehyde is a suspected carcinogen and can have deleterious health effects for workers exposed to it in high quantities. It is implicated in cancer, ALS, nervous system disorders, and other ailments. OSHA can require embalmers to wear respirators if the Permissible Exposure Limit air exchange allowance is surpassed, which may put funeral home workers at risk.
Coffins
Natural coffins are made from materials that readily biodegrade. Ideally, the materials are readily renewable or recycled, with less embodied energy in the production equation.Coffins (tapered shoulder shape) and caskets (rectangular shape) are made from a variety of materials. Most of them are not biodegradable. 80-85% of the caskets sold for burial in North America in 2006 were stamped steel. Solid wood and particle board (chipboard) coffins with hardwood veneers comprise 10-15% of the sales, with fiberglass and alternative materials (such as woven fiber) making up the rest.In Australia 85-90% of coffins are solid wood and particle board.
Most traditional caskets in the UK are made from chipboard covered in a thin veneer. Handles are usually plastic designed to look like brass. The chipboard requires glue to stick the wood particles together. Some glues that are used, such as those that contain formaldehyde, are seen as environmentally unfriendly. There is concern that such glues will cause pollution when they are burned during cremation or degrading in the ground. However, not all engineered wood products are produced using formaldehyde glues.
Caskets and coffins are often manufactured using exotic and in some cases endangered species of wood and designed to prevent decomposition. While there are generally no restrictions on the type of coffin used, most sites encourage the use of environmentally friendly coffins made from cardboard or wicker. A simple cotton shroud is another option.
Memorialization
A natural burial ground often utilizes a variety of memorialization techniques that vary from designer to designer - the prohibition of headstones, tributes, and other common markers is up to each individual cemetery and its users. Planting trees, shrubs, and flowers on or near the grave establishes a living memorialMemorial
A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains, and even entire parks....
and helps create habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
.
Irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
, pesticides, herbicides, and synthetic fertilizers may be significantly reduced or eliminated altogether, in favor of non-toxic and less resource-dependent vegetation support and control.
Environmental issues with conventional burial
Each year, 22,500 cemeteries across the United States bury approximately:- 30 million board feet (70,000 m³) of hardwoods (caskets)
- 90,272 tons of steelSteelSteel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
(caskets) - 14,000 tons of steel (vaults)
- 2,700 tons of copperCopperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
and bronzeBronzeBronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
(caskets) - 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concreteReinforced concreteReinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
(vaults) - 827,060 US gallons (3,130 m³) of embalming fluid, which most commonly includes formaldehydeFormaldehydeFormaldehyde is an organic compound with the formula CH2O. It is the simplest aldehyde, hence its systematic name methanal.Formaldehyde is a colorless gas with a characteristic pungent odor. It is an important precursor to many other chemical compounds, especially for polymers...
.
(Compiled from statistics by Casket and Funeral Association of America, Cremation Association of North America, Doric Inc., The Rainforest Action Network, and Mary Woodsen, Pre-Posthumous Society)
- The chemical properties of formaldehyde should be noted - once formaldehyde has been used for embalming purposes, it is no longer (technically and chemically) formaldehyde. The formaldehyde has broken down and the chemicals released into the ground after burial and ensuing decomposition are inert.
- The problems associated with formaldehyde and its constituent components when used in a natural burial setting are the unnecessary chemical exposure to mortuary workers and the destruction of the decomposer microbes necessary for breakdown of the body in the soil.
History
The practice of natural burial dates back thousands of years but has been interrupted in modern times by "technological advances" (vaults, liners, embalming, mausoleums, etc.) that mitigate the decomposition process. In the late 19th century Sir Francis Seymour Hayden proposed "earth to earth burial," in a pamphlet of the same name, as an alternative to either cremationCremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
or the slow putrefaction of encased corpses.
United Kingdom
The first woodland burial ground was created at Carlisle Cemetery by retired Cemeterian Ken West, in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1993 and was called woodland burial. Greenhaven Woodland Burial Ground
Greenhaven Woodland Burial Ground
Greenhaven Woodland Burial Ground is a natural burial ground located in the village of Lilbourne, from the town of Rugby, England. It opened in 1994 and was the first privately owned natural burial ground in the country...
in the village of Lilbourne
Lilbourne
Lilbourne is a village in the Daventry district of Northamptonshire in England. It is close to the M1 motorway which runs past the village, and the A5 road, east of the village. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 363 people.-History:...
, Rugby
Rugby, Warwickshire
Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 making it the second largest town in the county...
, was the first privately owned natural burial ground when it opened a year later. Over 200 dedicated natural burial sites have been created in the UK, and the industry in the UK has a code of practice administered by The Association of Natural Burial Grounds.'
The Association of Natural Burial Grounds (ANBG) was established by The Natural Death Centre in 1994. Its aims and objects have remained unchanged. It seeks to assist people in the process of establishing sites, to provide guidance to burial ground operators and to represent its members as a whole, and, not least, the Association has a Code of Conduct for members thus providing the public with assurance as to long-term security. On their website is a comprehensive UK directory of all the Natural Burial Grounds.
The Natural Death Centre (NDC) is a charity run by Rosie Inman-Cook that is dedicated to encouraging openness around death and dying, particularly through funerals, and to imagining creative, sustainable solutions to the practical and spiritual problems of our mortality. They also publish and sell The Natural Death Handbook, which is a 'must read' for anyone interested in this subject.
Ken West, professional cemeterian from 1961–2006, and life-long amateur naturalist, introduced woodland burial as a concept to the City of Carlisle in England in 1993, leading with a "Living Churchyard" project that returned owls, voles, and other creatures to the city cemetery by ending mowing and adding wildflowers and forage. West's achievements include being instrumental in establishing the Association of Natural Burial Grounds; creating the Charter for the Bereaved; being awarded an MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
by HRH Prince Charles in 2002 for services to burial and cremation; advising Parliament on managing pandemics and creating environmental burial services; current judge for annual UK natural burial competition; senior technical advisor for the Sustainable Cemetery Management Group and Natural End, a non-profit US organization that helps municipal and non-profit cemeteries to transition to sustainable alternatives.
United States
Billy Campbell, a rural doctorPhysician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, an environmentalist
Environmentalist
An environmentalist broadly supports the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities"...
, and a pioneer in the Green Burial Movement in the USA, opened the first modern "green cemetery" in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
Joe Sehee is a leading advocate of the Green Burial Movement in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Joe is the executive director of the Green Burial Council, an organization he founded to encourage sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
in the death care industry and to use the burial process as a means of facilitating ecological restoration and landscape level conservation.
The organization recently established the nation's first certifiable standards for cemeteries, funeral providers
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
, and cremations facilities
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
. Conventional funeral providers in eight states will now be offering the Green Burial Council approved burial package, providing a way for consumer to identify death care professionals willing to assist them with environmentally conscious end-of-life rituals.
Tyler Cassity rose to prominence in the death care industry by taking a bankrupt cemetery in the center of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
on the southern boundary of Hollywood and turning it into Hollywood Forever, where he had movies projected on the side of Rudolph Valentino’s
Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...
mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
, and displayed his “LifeStories,” which are A&E
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
-style video biographies of the dead. His cemetery is the final resting place to many of Hollywood's legends. Tyler Cassity has been involved in several films and has worked as a consultant on HBO's Six Feet Under.
The Fernwood Burial Ground in Marin County's Mill Valley dates from the 19th century and is adjacent to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area administered by the National Park Service that surrounds the San Francisco Bay area. It is one of the most visited units of the National Park system in the United States, with over 13 million visitors a year...
. Tyler Cassity's Forever Enterprises purchased it in 2004. The Fernwood property is 32 acres (129,499.5 m²) with most of it set aside for natural burial with no tombstones or caskets. Instead, bodies are buried there in ways that aid natural decomposition
Decomposition
Decomposition is the process by which organic material is broken down into simpler forms of matter. The process is essential for recycling the finite matter that occupies physical space in the biome. Bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death...
, and survivors can locate their loved-ones’ burial site with a handheld device that contains a GPS location finder.
Mary Woodsen is a trustee and officer (president) of Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve in Newfield
Newfield, New York
Newfield is a town in Tompkins County, New York, United States. The population was 5,108 at the 2000 census. The town's name is derived from the many unoccupied tracts of land that were once in the town....
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Mary also a long-time member of the Finger Lakes Land Trust, which protects 8,000 acres (32 km²) in the Finger Lakes
Finger Lakes
The Finger Lakes are a pattern of lakes in the west-central section of Upstate New York in the United States. They are a popular tourist destination. The lakes are long and thin , each oriented roughly on a north-south axis. The two longest, Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake, are among the deepest in...
and Southern Rivers regions, the Cayuga chapter of Keeping Track (a national organization working with local groups around the country that document the presence of keystone wildlife species in their areas, the better to inform decisions about local and regional land use), a task force looking at conservation zoning in her township of Danby, the Society of Environmental Journalists
Society of Environmental Journalists
The Society of Environmental Journalists is a non-profit created by and for journalists who report environmental topics in the news media. The mission of the Society of Environmental Journalists is to strengthen the quality, reach and viability of journalism across all media to advance public...
, the Society of Conservation Biology, and the National Association of Science Writers
National Association of Science Writers
The National Association of Science Writers was created in 1934 by a dozen science journalists and reporters in New York City. The aim of the organization was to improve the craft of science journalism and to promote good science reportage....
.
Theresa Purcell currently serves as board president of the green burial land trust Trust for Natural Legacies. As a 501(c)3 non-profit, Trust for Natural Legacies is both a traditional land trust working to establish cemetery nature preserves and also establishing itself as a "natural burial" cemetery umbrella organization where other green cemeteries can network directly with each other, share best practices and engage in continuing professional education (similar to what the Land Trust Alliance offers to nature preserves and the International Cemetery, Cremation & Funeral Association offers for cemeteries). TNL is based out of Minneapolis, MN and operates in the Midwestern states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Michigan.
Gordon Maupin, Executive Director of The Wilderness Center, Inc. a nonprofit nature center and land trust in Ohio started Foxfield Preserve. Foxfield Preserve is the first nature preserve cemetery to be operated by a nonprofit conservation organization. Foxfield Preserve is formerly agricultural land. The Wilderness Center is restoring part of the site to native prairie grasses and wildflowers and reforesting part of the preserve. Foxfield Preserve is adjacent to The Wilderness Center's 600 acres (2.4 km²) headquarters tract near Wilmot, Ohio.
Selena Fox is founder and director of Circle Cemetery, located at Circle Sanctuary Nature Preserve in southwestern Wisconsin and one of the first Green Cemeteries in North America. Fox has been conducting Green funerals and memorials for more than thirty years as part of her work as senior minister of Circle Sanctuary
Circle Sanctuary
Circle Sanctuary is a non-profit organization and legally recognized Wiccan Church based in southwestern Wisconsin, USA. Circle is the publisher of Circle Magazine, which has approximately 15,000 subscribers...
, an international Wiccan church which she founded in 1974. She is an advocate and media spokesperson for Greening the End of life – interviews with her have been carried in a variety of broadcast and in-print media sources as well as on-line over the years.
Canada
Mike Salisbury is a leading advocate of the natural burial movement in Canada and the current president of the Natural Burial Co-operative in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. The principal of Earthartist Planning and Design, Salisbury provides planning design and consultation to groups throughout North America involved in establishing new natural burial grounds.
The Natural Burial Association (NBA) is an independent, non-profit organization established to help reduce the environmental impacts of conventional death care practices through education and awareness, and to leverage the sustained popularity of burial towards the acquisition, renewal and permanent protection of Canada’s natural lands for the benefit of people and the environment.
Religion
Muslim law instructs the deceased to be washed and buried without a coffin, with only a wrapping of white cloth in order to preserve dignity of the deceased, which is sometimes perfumed. No chemical preservatives or embalming fluid is used, nor is there a burial vault or casket, similar to the principles of natural burial. Coffins are used, however, in countries such as the United Kingdom where the law requires it.External links
- A Will for the Woods, a documentary on green burials due for release late 2011
- West Pennine Remembrance Park, natural burials in Entwistle, UK.