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James Green is dead. He's lying on a classroom table—eyes closed, hands across his chest—while Donna Belk, who lectures on do-it-yourself funerals,explains how to wash a corpse at home.
While on the surface cemeteries look green and attractive, environmentalists refer to them as landfills of chemicals and cement.
Green Burial—or Natural Burial as it is sometimes called—is quite literally the facilitation of “earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” It is the burial of human remains in a natural setting, without benefit of the usual trappings of the modern funeral.
Environmentally friendly, natural alternative burial practices that not decrease the amount of carbon and chemicals that are released into the atmosphere and the soil, but keep very much in line with the Christian discipline of dying well.
More personal and less expensive are usually in woodland areas, without embalming bodies, and they use only biodegradable materials. Remains are interred in either simple cotton shrouds or coffins made of cardboard or pine. There are no manicured lawns, marble monoliths or metal vaults, and groundskeepers use no exotic plants, herbicides or pesticides. There are no bronze markers, no granite monuments, no artificial features, no irrigation systems, and no burial vaults. In some cases, there isn’t even a casket. When a casket is requested by the family, it is made of only natural, sustainable materials containing no plastics, metals, chemical adhesives or unnatural fabric linings.
Only a tree or a natural stone marks seemingly-random burial sites; most graves have no visible markings at all. Instead, a visitor to a green burial park would see only a pristine, natural meadow or wooded area, with natural grasses and wildflowers, and virtually nothing to indicate that one is even standing in a cemetery. . Some advocates of green funerals want to do away with tombstone-studded cemeteries altogether. Marble tombstones are frowned upon as shipping and mining produce carbon. (Marble is not a renewable resource. ) Grave is marked by rocks or wild flowers. Green cemeteries preserve the natural environment.
It's no longer enough to live a greener life — people are realizing they can environmentally friendly when they leave the Earth too. A “memorial nature park” where burials are a conservation tool to fund managing the land as a nature preserve. Natural burials create a legacy that provides a place of peace and beauty for generations to come. Most of these grounds are public and open to hikers. When folks visit deceased loved ones, they can also enjoy nature. Supporters of this also note that green burial grounds will protect forests from being chopped down.
A green burial movement was pioneered in England, where the first green cemetery was opened in 1993. Nature-loving Britain with its 200 green burial locations making Britain a world leader in eco-friendly funerals for years and a source of green burial products and ideas for countries like the United States, where the Eco-friendly burial trend is just starting to catch on as "green" cemeteries have sprouted up. Less than ten years after the opening of Ramsey Creek Preserve, states with active or proposed green cemeteries include: Florida, Texas. California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, South Carolina Colorado, Maine, Washington, and Wisconsin. http://www.thegreenfuneralsite.com/GreenCemeteries.html The Green Burial Council and other organizations are taking strides to develop and identify sustainable burial and cremation practices, locations and companies As Americans learn more about green funerals/burials, we expect to see thousands of green cemeteries develop.
Green funerals aren't anything new. Buddhists, Muslims, Jews all essentially practice green burials." Green funerals can be cheaper than a regular funeral but — like any — run the gamut.
Funeral directors NOT happy with the idea of green funerals are being told to position themselves to serve the community by providing green services. They wonder how their funeral home can continue to be financially successful if families choose burial options that don’t involve embalming, caskets, or many of the other services and products that are traditionally part of the twenty-first century funeral. Funeral trends have changed throughout the years. Those who were able to change with the times continued to be successful; those who panic or refuse to change with the times don't fare as well.”“
More info:
June issue of People Magazine in an article about the green burials trend
subject of a NBC Nightly News segment.
Did you catch the Six Feet Under where Nate was buried in a green funeral?
I'm not really what you'd call a "green" activist, but I have thought for many years that taking up land for burials is kind of wasteful. I mean, eventually there will be no more land! Besides that, I have NO desire to be embalmed/preserved and buried six feet under the ground where I'm going to rot anyway. I'd rather be cremated and set free to ride on the wind.
I am not a green activist either but then I read this....and it is making me think...
Embalming became popular during the Civil War, when soldiers died far from home and needed to be preserved during shipment home for burial. The main ingredient used for embalming then was arsenic. Even now, burials from that era are a source of arsenic in groundwater. After 1910, arsenic was replaced by formaldehyde as the embalming compound of choice. Groundwater pollution from embalming chemicals, not as toxic as arsenic, can still be deadly. Currently, nearly one million gallons of formaldehyde are buried in embalmed bodies each year in the United States, most of which will eventually seep into groundwater, surface waters and sewer system. Without the embalming fluid, there is no chance of groundwater pollution. Furthering pollution are the emissions from backhoes, lawnmowers and tree pruners, as well as pesticides getting into ground water.
Embalming is the use of chemicals, internally and externally, to disinfect and temporarily preserve the body for open casket viewing and/or for the removal of the body to distant destinations. Embalming slows the decomposition process. For those whose tradition does not designate embalming as part of the burial practice, can opt for a closed casket and rapid burial. Green campaigners say refrigeration or dry ice is a good alternative to formaldehyde.
Embalming and displaying a body (restorative arts) focuses on the 'body'. Some claim it macabre, creepy, and disrespectful. Though these ideas have become modern standards, the truth is that anything we can do to return to the earth more easily will lessen our impact on the environment.
Ultimately, our remains are part of the food chain. Unfortunately, many of the trappings of modern burial--such as embalming, hardwood coffins, and concrete vaults--are designed to delay the natural process of decomposition.
See The Green Goodbye, which explores new trends in eco-burials.
Green Funerals eschew embalming (the corpse can be kept cool and does NOT need to be embalmed by law). The law does NOT require that a dead human body be embalmed. It does require un-embalmed dead bodies shall be buried or otherwise disposed of within 24 hours after death unless refrigeration facilities are availableO.A.C. 235:10-11-1 (14). Although not a state law, in Oklahoma, many funeral homes will require a body be embalmed if you select a service that includes viewing of the remains. Although embalming is not, contrary to popular belief and to the claims of many morticians, required by law, funeral directors will usually do it without asking as it is a good money maker for them. And foregoing embalming will not help the savvy funeral shopper to save money, as most funeral directors charge the same amount to refrigerate remains as they do to embalm them.
Most airlines and other common carriers will require that a body be embalmed prior to shipping and the laws of the destination state will apply. Green burials involve non-embalmed bodies dressed in pure fiber clothes placed in biodegradable caskets made of cardboard, wood, wicker or even bamboo. Markers of flat stone. Burials here cost about $2500, and 25% of that is devoted to maintaining the natural grounds. Many people who choose this option also host the wake/funeral at their home.
Contact your local not-for-profit funeral and memorial society.
There was a group of funeral parlor folk in Greenville, SC, 10 years ago, who made pine boxes and didn't embalm for their clients who wanted it. It was far cheaper and much more 'green' than the cement boxes around the expensive caskets holding poisoned bodies. The SC Funeral Directors Association sued them for 'contaminating' the gravesites - and won.
The funeral industry is HUGE. Did you know that funeral directors will take out insurance policies payable to themselves on derelicts and known drug addicts, just to ensure that they get the funerals and embalming paid for - and to give themselves a little extra? Who is ever going to know? Not the family who may (or may not) come up with the required cash to bury their drunken or drugged family member... And it is perfectly legal. And do you think that they burn those fancy caskets with the deceased after the visitation? If you have a loved one cremated, they re-use the casket for visitation - and charge the same price, over and over again, unless and until it finally goes into the ground. Any ornaments left at a gravesite by the family aren't just picked up and thrown away - a lot of them are sold and resold as well; vases, trinkets, memorabilia, etc. Some even don't fully clothe the deceased, but sell the clothes and shoes, belts and other items that they can hide with one side of the casket down. Your Dad might be well-dressed from the waist up in the casket, but...
Funerals are a HUGE, expensive scam perpetrated on families right at the worst moment of their lives. Those mass-produced fancy caskets cost less than a third of what some folks go into hock to pay for them. In some states, funeral directors have made it illegal (by lobbying their state legislators) to have ashes put in anything but the urns the funeral directors provide - for a price - and illegal as well to scatter ashes over any ground or water. So even after you die and are cremated, you are still considered water, air, and ground pollution - unless you buy an urn and pay to have it put in a wall or in a gravesite.
My Dad (who worked as a cemetery superintendent) told me all about their 'tricks of the trade'.
Good luck fighting that lobby... no matter how well-intentioned you are, or what your reasons are.
I'm going to be cremated, and as a ceramicist I have made my own urn. I plan on hanging about with DH or the kids and keeping an eye on things... It also doubles as a self-sealing ashtray, for those who need a place to put THEIR butts, too...
The 20 billion a year mortuary industry offers a service that remains the third largest personal expense, after a house and car.
Funeral directors are trained to encourage you to buy the most expensive options. Many don't ask. They lead you so you assume things have to be done a certain way. They get you while you are grieving and then require a certain amount up front. Families have had to go to the bank to borrow money to start the process and spend years paying for things they wouldn't have bought for the funeral if they had been in a different frame of mind.
By the time you meet with the funeral director you won't be thinking clearly. We were charged $45 for a guestbook we did not ask for! When I asked why they said they figured we'd want it plus someone who had beat the family down to the funeral home to view the body had already signed it. We have still never looked at it, over a year later.
It's so easy to turn that feeling of helplessness that death creates into purchasing, "When you're grieving, it's really hard to say, 'What's the cheapest casket you've got?'
Traditional funerals can get very expensive. To save on funeral costs with a Green Burial—or Natural Burial as it is sometimes called—is quite literally the facilitation of “earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” It is the burial of human remains in a natural setting, without benefit of the usual trappings of the modern funeral. Why we have ceremonies where bodies are put back in the earth. ... to honor the dead and confront our mortality." And the Lord God formed mankind of the dust of the ground, and breathed into their nostrils the breath of life, and they became living beings.”(Genesis 2:7)
“Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”(Genesis 3:19)
Returning nutrients to the ecosystem via decomposing matter is a core tenet of environmental thinking.
Many cemeteries, particularly in the U.S., have rules and regulations stipulating the use of concrete vaults, coffins, and other such requirements that use significant resources and space, becoming one with nature isn't as straightforward and simple (or quick) as it may seem.
Cremation, like burning anything, can produce air pollution, especially if there are toxic substances present (i.e. embalming fluids, mercury fillings in the teeth). Pollutants released can include particulates, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury. Cremation is especially toxic when the body has been embalmed or enclosed inside a coffin. Cremation is a better alternative as long as the crematorium has scrubbers on the smokestacks and only the body is burned. Modern crematoriums have made significant reductions in emissions.
In the past 35 years, cremation, long considered a less-expensive solution to the full-nine-yards burial (and thus an option funeral directors have historically tried to discourage) has become more common -- and accordingly, funeral directors (even the "honest" ones) have figured out ways to charge more for it. When cremation began to become more popular, funeral directors quickly figured out that cremation was just a final disposition—like a burial. The selection of cremation didn’t necessarily exclude all the things that led up to the cremation, such as a casket, a viewing, a funeral or memorial service and all the rest. It’s the same with green burial.
As funeral directors, we need to remember that green burial is just another option for final disposition.
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Yes, this funeral industry has us in a stranglehold in many states. NE was very difficult to deal with, as they have a strong industry and is only second to auto dealers in paying lobbyists to 'tweak' the law.
A few years ago...I needed to get my deceased dad from WA to NE, and couldn't cremate due to siblings not agreeing. $300 for air freight, but NE directors wanted $1900 to transport my dad's corpse 20 miles from airport to cemetery, THEN They insisted that I use a WILBERT (concrete) Vault... the only one allowed to be sold in NE funeral homes ($1200 + delivery), even though the cemetery didn't require a vault. Then you had to rent the site equip (lift / ramps) + pay for the backhoe to move in twice...
I decided to do a 2000 mile 'road trip'. Got my transit permits, BUT NE has a rule.... "all corpses MUST be accompanied by a funeral director". The AG made a point to personally call me and explain I would be breaking the law if I traveling in NE with a transit permit, but w/o a director in attendance... so... I had to drive around the state of NE and get to the shortest route, then be met by a director who agreed to accompany me to the cemetery (where I had a backhoe waiting). I had picked up my fiberglass vault in WY for $300, enroute. Dropped dad in the grave and backfilled, then slipped the director a few hundred for his 'trouble'. So his 60 minutes was still the largest expense of the process, but it was all done for less than 1/2 the cost of that 20 mile trip from the airport. (including my fuel expense for the 4000 mile RT).
Go green. I got all 'measured' up to be sure I would fit in the woodstove
Home Burials .....from what I have found on the internet
While home burials are usually prohibited in urban settings rural areas may be more lenient. Permits are almost always certain, and in some cases, special property-usage variances may be required. That could be costly-but can create a family cemetery to be used for generations to come. The downside is that in today's transient society, a cemetery could be left on a stranger's property and also decrease value of land.
We can't be burying randomly (i.e. the backyard) so simply check in your state to see if you can bury on private property, such as a family farm. In many states a portion of the land has to be dedicated as a cemetery. If such a designation is approved by the state Cemetery Board, and all necessary local zoning, business, and land-use permits are obtained, there's still a matter of $25,000. That's the cost of an endowment care trust fund that has to be established in perpetuity.
Do-it-yourself home funerals, especially popular in California are done in a natural state with inexpensive, even homemade, coffins—like the old days. (You can order your container from, among others, www.cardboardcasket.com , which offers a low-end model for $49.95; they'll FedEx it.) Bodies are washed and prepped by relatives, and kept cool as folks say their goodbyes, preferably within three days or less. A death certificate and possibly other paperwork is required depending on how the remains are transported and disposed. "People want to follow a concept other than traditional church or funeral home services—do a celebration of life–type service in a home or hall somewhere. "Trends and traditions do change, and the funeral industry needs to change along with that."
According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the average American funeral is $5180. (Don't know how old this info as we just spent almost $9K in 2007 for a very "cheap" funeral!!) The site goes on to say that many spend upwards of that on just the casket meaning a funeral can cost about $10,000. (The Washington Post article cites figures from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stating that a few years ago the typical cost of a standard or traditional funeral was around $6,000. )
Sampling of average costs, according to the Federal Trade Commission, which seems to me to be very outdated information, after recently burying 3 family members!):
Professional Services- $1650 (embalming, funeral home staff, funeral director, minister, soloist, organist, etc. Service can be at a later time, you don't need a Church or lots of people. CD cheaper
Facilities/Equipment- $850 (visitation room, preparation room, reception room, chapel, canopies, ) BE AWARE : they charge for gravesite service separately, in addition to the Church service
Transportation- hearse, limos from Church to cemetery, delivering flowers to house after service, $450
Cash disbursements- $1828 (flowers, casket piece--not needed if don't have funeral, cemetery plot, obituary, death certificate, honorariums, headstone)
By contrast, the price tag of a green burial is around $2,000, saving you a little money going green. Green funerals, which involve non-embalmed bodies in biodegradable cardboard or wooden caskets, cost around $2,500, with 25% of the cost going to maintaining the natural habitat.
The biggest price difference comes by way of the casket. Biodegradable coffins are often made of recycled cardboard or are simple wooden boxes that start around $300.However-there are what are called eco-pods, which can cost about $3000. You can prepare eulogy and play a CD you have made of the deceased's life. (We decided it was foolish to use the expensive services of a florist when flowers are going to die quickly out in the hot sun! In my area friends and family give gifts of cash to the family to help defray costs of the funeral instead of wasting it on flowers that nobody has room for afterwards and that many are allergic to.) Funerals directors are voicing concerns that they no longer have the luxury of enjoying the unquestioned trust of their client families.
Last edited by OneDayAttaTime; 01-05-2009 at 08:44 AM..
In 45 states, including Oklahoma, citizens can legally bypass funeral homes and obtain permits to handle the body on their own. In the other five states — Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska and New York — green funerals are tricky because laws require funeral directors to be involved to some degree, according to Funeral Consumers Alliance. (Nationwide, burials on private property within the cities are all but impossible. Local zoning approval may be needed in rural areas.)
In Oklahoma, as in many other states, a family can bury its own dead without using a licensed funeral director-. See 59 O.S. §396.19 for additional information. The family would be responsible to see that a death certificate is completed and filed at the health department.
If I have a question regarding death certificates or disinterments contact-
Oklahoma Health Department
Vital Statistics
1000 N.E. 10th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73117
(405) 271-5600
Can a family bury on their own property? The Funeral Board does not have jurisdiction over cemeteries. Generally, local ordinances, zoning laws, or deed restrictions prohibit burials outside a cemetery within city limits. If you anticipate burial on private property, contact your attorney for guidance. The requirements to establish a cemetery are found in 8 O.S. §181.
.L.1910, § 4265; Laws 1975, c. 306, § 1. §5042. Cemeteries. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation or association to lay out, establish, or use for burial purposes any cemetery, graveyard or burial grounds less than threefourths (3/4) of one (1) mile from the incorporated line of any city of more than five thousand (5,000) inhabitants within this state, or within four (4) miles from the incorporated line of any city of this state, having a population of more than sixtyfive thousand (65,000) inhabitants, and then within threefourths (3/4) of one (1) mile from any tract of land plotted into lots or blocks, or otherwise subdivided for residence purposes, wherein lots, tracts, or blocks have been sold in good faith for residence purposes prior to the time of the location, opening, or use for such burial ground, graveyard or cemetery. Provided, that where cemeteries, graveyards or burial grounds have heretofore been used and maintained within less than threefourths (3/4) of one (1) mile from the incorporated line of any city of more than five thousand (5,000) inhabitants within this state, or not less than four (4) miles from the incorporated line of any city of this state, having a population of more than sixtyfive thousand (65,000) inhabitants, and not less than threefourths (3/4) of one (1) mile from any tract of land plotted into lots or blocks, or otherwise subdivided for residence purposes, wherein lots, tracts or blocks have been sold in good faith for residence purposes, and additional lands are required for cemetery purposes, any person owning lands adjacent, may lay out and use, or sell the same to such cemetery to be used as an addition to such cemetery, and the use of such additional lands for such purposes shall not be prohibited hereby. Provided, however, that the provisions of this act shall not apply to the laying out, establishing, or using for burial purposes any cemetery, graveyard or burial ground in cities containing a population over three hundred thousand (300,000), according to the preceding Federal Decennial Census, whenever authority for such construction and operation has been obtained from a governmental planning commission having jurisdiction over zoning and building regulations covering the area wherein such cemetery, or burial ground is proposed to be located. http://law.justia.com/oklahoma/codes/os50.html
I noticed you can buy a casket online at Costco and have it delivered to the funeral home of your choice.
But I've already decided to be cremated. I have no desire to rot six feet underground, in any kind of box. If I had to choose I'd choose a plain pine box to hasten decomposition, but cremation is even faster. I don't want to be embalmed.
My ancestors I have read about doing genealogy are buried in a family cemetery in rural Missouri. My parents plan to be buried there. I hadn't planned to be there at all, but the more I think about it, the more I think I'll have my ashes sprinkled there among the graves of my deceased relatives. For one, it's free. And no one can tell me I can't be there; it's land that's been owned by the family since the 1800s if not before. I just don't want to be embalmed and buried.
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I am not a green activist either but then I read this....and it is making me think...
It also doubles as a self-sealing ashtray, for those who need a place to put THEIR butts, too...
