What is a Natural Burial?
What is being referred to today as a Natural or Green burial was actually the norm for thousands of years prior to the Civil War. It was a time when people respected the earth. After all it’s where we all came from. In one way or another, whether you were from a city or a farm, burials were all done without all the extras, like embalming. Embalming as we know it began a little over a hundred years ago. At the time no one was aware of the desecration and disrespect it reigned on our beautiful planet. Hence, the funeral industry was born.
It’s taken a few years for the U.S.A. to catch on and will take a number of years for us to catch-up to the UK as they have a running start on this ‘new’ green burial movement with hundreds of natural cemeteries. Here we only have about a dozen or so natural burial cemeteries with more in the planning stages. As the knowledge and education of natural burials becomes known more people will opt for it. Besides being earth-friendly it costs much less than the traditional funeral….much less, unless you go for some custom made coffin which is only going to biodegrade anyway.
Did you know that the reason for embalming was to help preserve the bodies of our fallen soldiers of the Civil War? In those days it took time to bring a body home…weeks or more in some cases. This meant decomposition would have started before the body arrived home for a proper funeral, most likely a home funeral. The alternative was to bury the soldier in the field…no trip home for loved ones to say goodbye, no proper closure. Embalming solved this and a family was able to properly mourn. Prior to this the deceased body was prepared at home. Plus, if you actually knew, in detail, what an embalming entailed you would never want anyone whom you cared for have it done to them! (Maybe I’ll go into this in another blog…not for the faint of heart, my friends.)
But that was then, before refrigeration and dry ice…this is now…and….
Well, whatever was old is new again. So I’m going to tell you what a Natural Burial consists of. Cremation is another option, one that is gaining in popularity but I’ll write about that in an upcoming blog. For now, let’s stick to the burial option…actually the one I’m personally planning on going out with.
In fact, I’m going to start with this, my burial…..all preplanned. All my family has to do is add any personal touch like a eulogy and contact people to let them know and to invite them to my Life Celebration. OK…here we go…picture this…
A beautiful wooded piece of land overlooking the Long Island Sound…a light breeze rustles through the trees carrying the scent of the Sound’s salt water through the air while the birds above sing a “Welcome to our Neighborhood” song. My physical body is ensconced in a beautifully colored biodegradable organic shroud.
As I am interred I would like everyone who wants to write a message on a piece of paper, write something special and toss the notes into my grave.
I have asked for a lilac tree sapling to be placed as my marker. As I biodegrade I will become a part of the carbon footprint of this tree. A small GPS marker will also be placed here so visiting family and friends can locate me.
In my mind I picture a great-grandchild of mine resting against my trunk, reading a book…daydreaming…meditating…and maybe, just maybe, some of my energy might be still lurking giving him or her a sense of peace and love.
To the people out there who might argue and say this is another baby boomer hippie resurgence movement here are some facts……..a quote from The Natural Burial Centre:
“A ten-acre swatch of cemetery ground will contain enough coffin wood to construct more than 40 homes, nearly a thousand tons of casket steel and another twenty thousand tons of concrete for vaults. Across North America enough metal is diverted into coffin and vault production each year to build the Golden Gate Bridge, and enough concrete is used to build a two-lane highway from Toronto to Montreal… and back again.
Formaldehyde, the primary ingredient in embalming fluids and a potential carcinogen (on the European Union’s list for possible banning) is another concern. We bury nearly a million gallons of embalming fluid every year in North America, some of which eventually leaches out and runs into surrounding soil and groundwater. Not enough research has been done to make definitive judgments about formaldehyde’s effect on the environment; however its effect on members of the mortuary trade is clearer. Numerous studies have shown that embalmers and funeral directors exhibit a higher incidence of leukemia and cancers of the brain and colon, among other ailments.”
A natural burial doesn’t harm but enhances the land. It propagates the indigenous plants encouraging life and growth. It totally avoids preservatives, chemicals, metals and concrete. Only a biodegradable coffin made from wood (not from any endangered woods), paper or cardboard, bamboo or wicker is acceptable for interment. The body is wrapped in a biodegradable shroud… maybe a favorite quilt or blanket (just not one with anything that is not able to biodegrade). Personally, I think a favorite item of a loved one, whatever it might be, should be left for the living to use and remember them by. Or one can forgo the casket altogether…a simple shroud is all that’s needed.
Think about it….
The average cost of a traditional funeral is anywhere from $6,500 and up. The average cost of a natural burial is more or less $1000 and up. (per ‘Grave Expectations’ by Sue Bailey & Carmen Flowers). I know of one cemetery which charges $1000 for a plot with the cost going down if you order more than one and I know of another that starts out at $500 for a plot. One is a beautiful open field, the other a woodland.
A simple shroud can consist of a plain piece of muslin or it can be a beautiful cloth with an exquisite design. A coffin can be an upscale vessel, maybe one that is custom made like the Ecopod or one that looks like a guitar case, or an airplane (yep…check this out)…or it can be a simple inexpensive cardboard box. Some people who use the cardboard box have the people who have gathered for the ‘Celebration’ decorate it. Maybe write a final message on it.
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Hi there, nice piece.
Please be careful however of giving the impression that your decomposing nutrients will be recycled or taken up by the surrounding flora/trees. This is a mistake that lots of the burial sites and the movement in general has made over the last 20 years here in the UK. Basically by the time any roots get down to you there will be only bone and at the level most sites bury there is very little worm activiy to bring things higher.
There has been some critisism that this portrayal is deciptful and misleading, just a thought!
Very glad ot see that the movement is finally catching on over there. We are always available to advise, keep in touch.
Rosie at the Natural Death Centre and Assoc’ of Natural Burial Grounds.
Thanks Rosie. I really appreciate your input. Everything, including Natural Burial, is a learning process. Is this true then if one is buried, as I believe is advocated, three feet deep with a new sapling planted over it? Also, since so much has been cited previously, where do you get your information from?
I just am starting this blog and want to get lots of input. I truly believe that this is more than a viable option which people should know of. And even if we don’t nourish that tree as we have been led to believe…isn’t it a beautiful way to memorialize someone?….a true living memorial !
I’m so glad we here in the U.S. are finally catching on with this! Yes, let’s keep in touch.
Thanks for adding more information to the world of natural burial.
I do agree with Rosie that you need to do a lot more research. This is a complicated subject and one that is difficult to portray accurately, especially as there are differing opinions and differing experiences.
For example, I – and a number of people I know, most of them organic farmers, tree-growers, and soil-web ecologists – happen to disagree with Rosie about her statement that the tree doesn’t uptake the nutrients.
Of course the tree uptakes the nutrients. To assume that it doesn’t is to miss the whole point of fertilization. The body acts as fertilizer, and just as the native American Indians would put a fish into a hole in the garden and plant corn, beans and squash on top, so can a body be “planted” in the ground and fertilize a tree.
Here’s a little support for the idea:
“Buried fish are an excellant fertilizer. Some years ago, when alewives were a real problem on the beaches here, we harvested large quantities of them and put them in a trench around an apple tree. The following spring that tree blossomed for the first time in anyones memory and produced some good fruit. Folklore has it that American Indians used to put 3 Sunfish/Bluegill size fish with each corn seed at planting time.”
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/f.....16828.html
There’s plenty more on the web where that came from.
Of course, there’s a complex interchange of elements and microbes that get the fertility job done, but that’s a complicated story that probably doesn’t belong here. The important thing is to know that a number of educated people believe that “Yes, the body does fertilize a tree” – so you will need to move carefully with topics that you’re not fully informed about, and certainly do a lot more research whenever you can.
To learn more about what we offer the movement by way of information, you can visit http://www.naturalburialcompany.com/consulting
The coffin you have in the picture above, by the way, is our 100% seagrass coffin, the “Asian Harmony” offered in the US for sale to the retail public by the Natural Burial Company (that’s my firm). You can find it, and a lot more coffins just like it, at http://www.naturalburialcompany.com and clicking on our biodegradable coffin gallery there.
Thank you again for doing what you do and sharing what you know. Together we make the world a better place for all of us.
in trees,
Cynthia Beal
I’m so glad to read your informative comments. I love getting feedback and hope more people will tell me their personal feelings as well as any other information about Natural Burials. This is the main purpose of Recycle Me as a Tree….to inform people that they have choices and the advantages of a natural burial. I plan to add a resource page and would love to add The Natural Burial Co. to it. I will send you a separate email regarding this. Thank you for all your efforts in promoting Natural Burials!