Ask Umbra on green burial 13

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1. 

   solargroupies Posted 7:08 pm
   19 Jul 2009

   There are also "chemical cremation" alternatives, which don't sound any more inviting than "ashes to ashes" or formaldehyde. Keep in mind when a body is placed in a pine box, as a friend of mine was, as he instructed, and lowered into the ground to decay without preservatives, the body eventually becomes part of the groundwater, and groundwater is pretty much everywhere.... yes, that's right... so what goes around comes around. That opens the possibility for disease, toxins, whatever was associated with the corpse, to become part of the food chain again.

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2. 

   Fenrir Posted 8:35 am
   20 Jul 2009

   It's an interesting subject! What I've always been worried about is the cost of dying. It COSTS to die! I mean, shouldn'te we all die and that's it? why are there so many companies or governments trying to take advantage of an unavoidable stage? I believe it's gross to have to spend on your own death or leave the debts to the family, because funerary services, cemetery services and whatever, even death certificate or any thing the authorities need, costs and sometimes a lot.I would so love to die peacefully and be thrown to the ocean or used to help something else, lest my body contained toxic chemicals and there were risks to the environment, in which case, shouldn't we all (probably city-consumer-folks) be disposed as dangerous wastes? We poison our body in life and then go ahead and keep polluting the earth after death. I'm a living environmental liability! Everyone should pay (not a company or government) to remediate the environmental impacts we caused in life and will cause in death, not pay for just dying! we're in a huge debt we don't even know about.

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3. 

   SteveH Posted 8:57 am
   20 Jul 2009

   While having my car's oil changed recently, I struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to me.  He recently started a green cemetary that was rapidly going under.  The major problem with this industry getting a firm foothold in the marketplace is that their "customer pool" is either unaware of the option or not ready to go against tradition.  Us younger folks are not prepaying for funeral services yet, even though we'd likely be much more apt to use this service.  I'd like to prepay, but us younger people are typically to transient to committ to such things. 

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4. 

   JMD Posted 9:07 am
   20 Jul 2009

   I had read another article on this topic at www.boogiegreen.com. It includes links to providers for more details about costs, etc.

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5. 

   jdham137 Posted 12:11 pm
   20 Jul 2009

   I've thought a lot about this topic and this is what I plan on doing.http://web.utk.edu/~fac/donation.shtmlJust rot away in the woods.....

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6. 

   MaryH Posted 1:07 pm
   20 Jul 2009

   Hopefully, long before you or your family worries about your green burial you can send green memorial favors instead of sending flowers. I often wonder, how green are cut flowers? Within a couple days they die and if the family brings home the flowers they die and are depressing. How about next time sending cards with seeds imbedded in them? The cards grow wildflowers in memory of your loved one check them out here http://www.nextgenmemorials.com/seedcardheart.html they are getting very popular in the funeral, memorial, life celebration business. You can add the deceased name at no charge! They are made from recycled paper and printed on recycled paper so yep they are green as can be. Now go on living!

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7. 

   murmeltier Posted 1:25 pm
   20 Jul 2009

   I've thought about this, too, and had thought that just disappearing into the woods would be a good idea, if I could manage to remain sufficiently mobile.   And, as an avid birder, I've long regretted that our lack of lammergeiers and our population density precluded air burial which as always struck me as a truly magnificent sort of transition.   But this business of my decomposition eventually leaching toxins into the environment is troubling.   Clearly an argument for avoiding antibiotics, nonorganic vegetation, etc...

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8. 

   Pat411 Posted 12:06 am
   21 Jul 2009

   I just stumbled over this site and would like to reiterate that cremation is the most accessable of the green alternatives to handling human remains. Not only that, but there is a way to escape the funeral industry profiteers who take advantage of the bereaved and waste resources on frivolous frills and, of course, their obscene profits. I'm sure that state regs differ and the death/funeral parlor lobby is a powerful one eveywhere in our "free market" economy...but at least in Kentucky one can push the death profiteers completely out of the picture. When my wife died last month, we were presented by the hospital "social worker" with a list of funeral homes which offered cremation. So I did some research on my own. Not wanting to throw money to the wolves of the funeral industry ( my dear wife would have hated that) I researched Kentucky law, and NO FUNERAL PARLOR NEED BE INVOLVED as many naturally assume.But one must remember to ask for a "DIRECT CREMATON". Otherwise, a funeral home will take their cut and at least triple the price. Don't go to an undertaker. They are leeches who prey on people at the most vulnerable points in their lives and who think contracting a funeral parlor is their only choice.In a direct cremation, the remains are picked up by the crematorium staff themselves with no middleman leeches involved. One must identify the body at the crematorium, but even this can be waived by signing a simple release form.My dear and wonderful wife was cremated for a total bill of $840.  (She believed our limited resources should be used for the living.) Then, we waited a few weeks and had a wonderful wake for her, renting a hall, eating her favorite foods, displaying her published writing (she was a professional journalist), telling stories, shedding a few tears, but mainly laughing and celebrating the love and happiness she brought to all her friends and family. All who wanted to speak were given the opportunity to recount stories of her life.And the total cost of cremation, hall rental and refreshments for her guests was less than the lowest bid from a traditional funeral home for a normal cremation.It was wonderful and has given me pleasant meories to last the rest of my life. i strongly reccomend our method.I am unaware of what laws in other states might prevent such a wonderful way to celebrate a loved one's life without all the dreary and morbid atmosphere of a funeral home. But in Kentucky, one need only contact Cremation Society of Kentucky at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
   
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9. 

   mwildfire Posted 7:53 am
   21 Jul 2009

   What you need to do is get a copy of Caring for the Dead: Your Final Act of Love, by Lisa Carlson. I found it in my local library. This book has a chapter for each of the fifty states, detailing the laws regulating whether and how you can bury someone on your own or a friend's land, what paperwork you need to do, etc.I wrote a piece about this several years ago, which I was unable to get published, I suspect because the immediate reaction in our death-denying country is usually "Oh what an unpleasant subject. Let's not talk about THAT." And thus virtually everyone goes to a funeral home, thinking it's the only choice. Someone lamented the lack of flesh eating birds in America, but in a funeral home there ARE vultures, ready to take advantage of a family at a very vulnerable time. People typically spend $7000. And here are the two secrets: it's legal to take care of your own dead, and often to bury them yourself without cremation, in most states. And, it's not only enormously cheaper--it also is much more satisfying, thus speeding the grief process. I discovered this when a neighbor died unexpectedly several years ago. Because I had taken a class on Death and Dying, and had mentioned to these neighbors that in WV it's legal to do it all yourself, they had discussed it and made their decisions. When Sarah was confronted with her worst nightmare come true, just before dawn one October morning, at least she knew what to do. My husband got other neighbors together to dig a grave where she directed; all the neighbors stayed home from work or school to help dig the grave and cook for the people who soon came by. By nightfall, fifty people were on hand with candles, ready to lower and cover the coffin (made that morning by a woodworker) and sing Amazing Grace and Will the Circle Be Unbroken, and read Buddhist rites together. The contrast with my father-in-law's  conventional funeral a couple of years earlier was stark--that one was artificial and costly, this one allowed all the community of people who had known Ted to come together around his loss. Doing it in the way people have done it for hundreds of thousands of years connected us with all those ancestors, which was also comforting. It cost Sarah exactly nothing. And when she went to bed that night with no Ted, at least she knew she was not alone--she had seen the dozens of people ready to help at a moment's notice.Don't let the funeral industry rob you of this experience and several thousand dollars! Talk to your loved ones about their wishes--and check out the laws in your state, and perhaps also whichever states your loved ones live in, so that you can be ready when you need to deal with this. Whether you want cremation or burial, choose for yourself.

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10. 

    ModrnHippe Posted 6:53 pm
    21 Jul 2009

    This is a very good question and has me thinking, what is the greener way to leave this earth?  While I know for sure that I do not want to be embalmed and put on display for all my loved ones to view me one last time, I would rather them preserve whatever last memory of me they had. Another option I have considered was donating my body to science.  After viewing the Body Worlds exhibit in Phoenix, I grabbed a brochure to fill out and send in to see if I could be a canidate when that day comes when I say my final goodbye.  But I found their are other options too since the Body Worlds is becoming competitive to be a part of other medical researchers and students could benefit from what your body has to offer so that they may learn to save another life. Either way, Im pretty sure that when I go, I want to leave knowing that I have done some great things for this world.

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11. 

    MsDaisy Posted 3:11 pm
    24 Jul 2009

    My daughter goes to a christian camp (Camp High Road in Middleburg, VA) who has started "Eco Eternity Forest" which I believe is a very nice idea for those who wish to be cremated, BUT also still want to have that place to go visit. The ashes are buried at a tree which is chosen by you, and a plaque with your name and info is put on the tree. You can purchase a tree for a family of up to 15 people for $4500. I t hink this is a great idea for an "eco" option. You can also purchase an individual option which, of course is much less. If interested, you should check it out! Something I am considering.

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12. 

    Username Posted 8:12 pm
    29 Jul 2009

    Good Stuff, Thanks for the article.

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