Dust to Dust: How to Have a "Green" Burial

Everywhere you look these days, the word "green" is used to describe everything from kitty litter to building materials and with living green as the current rage it stands to reason we’d eventually get around to dying green, or the green burial, as well. And so we have.

Ten years ago the UK—who is far ahead of us on this—had five designated green cemeteries. Today there are more than 200. The United States is getting on board, with green cemeteries cropping up all over and some regular cemeteries starting to offer green burial options as well. So what exactly is a green burial?

No Embalming, No Monument

The totally green burial is pretty much what all burials were prior to the mid-1800s, when the Civil War brought back embalming. Typically the body is not embalmed (so no chemicals will enter the earth or the aquifer), there is no outer container of concrete or steel, and the casket is as biodegradable as possible. For the purist, there will not be a monument either, unless it is a native stone. Some mark graves by planting a tree or shrub and others simply with a GPS position. The idea behind a green burial is to actually carry out that scripture, "dust to dust," and return to the earth without the usual trappings of a cemetery.

Biodegradable Caskets

Not one to miss an opportunity, the funeral industry is starting to offer green—which is to say totally biodegradable—caskets. Since biodegradable caskets are usually advertised as earth-friendly, they may also come at a considerable cost. One option that can save money would be to request a kosher casket. Kosher caskets, required for orthodox Jewish burials, are built of wood with no metal whatsoever, so they are completely biodegradable. They can cost less than half the price of a specialty green casket, giving you the opportunity to save a grand while saving the earth with your green burial.

The No-Casket Option

Extending the dust to dust thing even further, Susanne Wiigh-Masak, a biologist educated at Gothenburg University and a freelance environmental consultant in Lyrö, Sweden, has come up with an even more earth-friendly method. By freezing the body, then immersing it in liquid nitrogen to remove all moisture, a human corpse can be reduced to 20-30 kilograms of fine organic powder. This can be safely added to any soil and even mixed into one's favorite garden. Thus the transition from "gardens of stone" to just gardens may one day be complete. While it's not exactly a green burial, for those who wish to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem, this could be the ultimate literal opportunity.

For more information about green burials, visit www.funeral-help.com/green.html

Posted in Funeral Planning: Going in Style, Types of Funerals