Greener Ways to the Great Beyond
Here's how to ensure your final resting place is earth
friendly and priced right.
By Nancy Smith
A typical, no-frills funeral and burial in the United
States costs from $6,000 to $10,000, uses formaldehyde in
embalming, nondegradable steel caskets and concrete vaults
placed shoulder to shoulder in established cemeteries.
Burial in a green or natural cemetery, on the other hand,
can cost half as touch, and embalming mortal caskets and
concrete burial vault's are prohibited. Instead,
biodegradable caskets, usually made of wood or cardboard,
or burial shrouds of natural fibers are used. Green
cemetery graves are placed randomly throughout a woodland
or meadow, and marked only in natural ways, with the
planting of a tree or shrub, or the placement of a flat
indigenous stone, which may or may not be engraved. Burial
locations are mapped with a GIS (geographic information
system), so future generations can locate an ancestors
final resting place.
There are more than 200 green cemetery its in Great
Britain, and the idea is beginning to catch on here in
North America. Lisa Carlson is executive, director of the
Funeral Consumers Alliance in South Burlington, Vermont,
and author of Caring for the Dead, which
tackles the topic of funeral law state by state. She
reports embalming, expensive caskets anti concrete vaults
are: not required by law in any state. Bodies can be kept
cool until burial rather than being embalmed and cemeteries
require vaults only to prevent soil settling and facilitate
grass mowing.
The leader in the emerging green-cemetery business in this
country, Carlson says, are Dr. Billy and Kimberley Campbell
of Memorial Ecosystems, founded in 1996 in Westminster
South Carolina. Their idea is to Use green cemeteries to
preserve open space. You can be buried at the Campbells
first green cemetery, Ramsey Creek Preserve, in
Westminster, and visitors can walk on trails through 32
acres of mixed Woodlands and open fields there.
In Florida, a green cemetery called Glendale Memorial
Preserve is being established to save a 350-acre family
farm from development. And groups in several other states,
inducting Colorado, California, New York, Washington and
Wisconsin, have efforts under way to established green
cemeteries that center on land preservation. In Canada, the
Memorial Society of British Columbia also has a formally
funded green-burial initiative under way.
The first burial at Ramsey Creek Preserve occurred in the
fall of 1998; to date, 17 more have taken place. Another 50
persons have purchased sites. A casket burial there costs
about $2,500. Burial of cremated remains is only $500;
scattering of cremated remains is $250. Stone grave markers
and engraving are optional; the stones are $25; engraving
ranges from $125 to $300. Caskets are not included. (For
instructions on building your own casket, see Page 61.)
Dr. Campbell says people seem to want to be buried there
because of the site's natural beauty, the lower cost and
the land preservation effort. Bodies usually arrive for
burial at Ramsey Creek Preserve via a local, independent
funeral home, whose owner has agreed to hold them under
refrigeration until delivery to the preserve. The nature of
any graveside ceremony is determined by the families.
"Whatever spiritual bent you bring to the preserve, our
natural landscape is very healing," Kimberley Campbell
says. "What we do is very simple, but there is something
very, very special about the simplicity of it."
Sherrill Hughes buried her husband, Roland, at Ramsey Creek
Preserve. She says she knows without a doubt that was what
he would have wanted. His body was placed in a simple pine
box—a preference he had expressed—and buried
under a dogwood tree; her grave site is right next to his,
and she says her children all want to be buried there, too.
"Roland's funeral was so personal. In most funerals there's
no emotion, but at Ramsey Creek, you can do what you want."
She played his favorite songs Dolly Parton's "I Will Always
Love You" and George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her
Today"—and placed the first spade full of dirt in his
grave.
Following her lead; their children shoveled too, "and
before we knew it, the boys-my two sons-in- and nephew -
had nearly finished tilling in the grave."
Hughes, who lives in Atlanta, says she wouldn't describe
herself or her husband as environmentalists. Rather. they
always just tried to take care of what God had given them,
"and that included the Earth." She plans to move to the
Westminster area soon, where most of her family al ready
lives, and she plans on building her own casket and helping
out as a volunteer at the preserve.
Dr. Campbell says folks buried there so far fit a range of
descriptions, and the majority are not
environmentalists—which is exciting to him. Going
through a green burial process helps people get beyond the
"nature as wallpaper" mentality, he explains. The only
medical doctor in Westminster, he has a longtime interest
in the environment (in 1986, he helped found the South
Carolina Forest Watch, a group that monitors the well-being
of the state's forests) and he has been dealing with death
since his medical school days; his wife thinks it's a
reassuring combination to their patrons. She also says
Atlanta's suburban sprawl is fast encroaching on their
area, so they feel a sense of urgency.
Dr. Campbell says, "My idea is that we need to link land
conservation with ritual and with people in a very
fundamental way. When the economy is not quite what it
should be, money is a problem (for groups dedicated to land
preservation), but if Mamma and Grandmamma are buried some
place, you might look at it differently."
Establishing the preserve seemed simple, but it proved a
daunting task, according to Kimberley Campbell. In 1992,
the state cemetery board was legislatively disbanded; as a
consequence, determining which authorities to contact about
the project proved a challenge.
To help build the site's status as a nature preserve, an
inventory of plants has been taken, and Dr. Campbell says a
"site appropriate" native plant—the smooth-leafed
coneflower (Echinacea laevigata) — is being planted
on some of the grave sites to take advantage of the
disturbed soil. Tripartite violets and the crested coral
root, uncommon native plants, also have been found.
A visitor's center, staffed by Kimberley's parents, sits
near the entrance, and an old chapel has been moved onto
the grounds to be restored for use by people of all faiths.
Life histories of those buried at the site will be archived
there.
The Campbells also have provided assistance to others
interested in following their example. Dr. Campbell says he
is willing to work with any entity with large land holdings
that might want to set up a similar preserve—complete
with ethical oversights in both financial and environmental
areas. "We're building a socially responsible for-profit
business," he says of Memorial Ecosystems.
Of the other green burial initiatives under way in the
United States, the closest to being operational is the
Glendale Memorial Nature Preserve near Glendale, Florida.
It is owned by brothers John and Bill Wilkerson, and now
can accept burials but not yet legally charge for them.
John, the family's spokesperson, says that's because he and
his brother still are negotiating with the state of Florida
over a $5,000 nonrefundable cemetery application fee, plus
a $50,000 trust fund required to ensure maintenance of the
nature preserve but which duplicates a fund to be
established under Memorial Ecosystems guidelines. Until an
agreement is reached, in lieu of a formal burial fee,
donations were being accepted; as of early 2003, no burials
had taken place.
The Glendale preserve was established, John says, because
he and his brother took their father seriously when he
said, "Boys, this is a beautiful piece of property. It
would be a shame to turn it into a mobile-home park." The
entire 350-acre farm, where the elder Wilkerson grew
peanuts, corn and soybeans, and his sons now grow chufa, a
specialty wildlife seed crop, will be the preserve.
In addition to providing grave sites, the Wikersons make
simple coffins from native woods, using an on-farm sawmill,
and have gathered a selection of flat indigenous stones,
which a local stonemason has agreed to engrave.
John says he and Bill handled their own parents' burials,
including making the coffins—pine for Dad; poplar for
Mom—and digging the graves. Their father died in 1996
and their mother, who wanted her funeral and burial to be a
simple affair, "and never missed a chance to remind us of
that," died in 2000. The couple is buried in a little
church cemetery that lies adjacent to the farm, on land
they donated earlier to the church. Digging those graves
was "a very powerful thing to do," John says. "It really
facilitated the grieving process."
Dr. Campbell, who is on the Glendale Preserve's board of
directors but not involved financially in the project, has
attended meetings between the Wilkersons and Florida state
officials to help explain the memorial preserve idea. He
says he thinks Florida's financial requirements are
"oppressive" and notes an Ohio group also trying to
establish a memorial preserve is dealing with a similar
situation. Such fees are designed to help ensure perpetual
care" lot grave site', in a new cemetery. .says Carlson,
but in a green cemetery, traditional maintenance practices,
like large-.5c-.ilu lawn mowing, do not occur.
The rules at both Ramsey Creek and Glendale Preserves are
simple: No embalming no casket unless it is biodegradable,
no vault and no stone that that can be pushed over.
Kimberley Campbell says they advocate natural burial as the
best choice and cremation as the second best because
cremation uses energy and re leases toxins into the
environment. Natural burial really isn't a new idea, she
adds. "It's thousands of years old, and the reason is, its
a very natural effective way to dispose of a person's
remains. And wouldn't it be wonderful to visit a loved
one's grave a site atom, a beautiful prune trail, in a
towering England forest or other quiet place of natural
beauty?
HOME FUNERALS
Your mother is dying. You want to care for her yourself, at
home, when death finally arrives, rather than hiring a
mortuary. She feels the same. Together, while there is
still time, you decide to plan her service and burial. How
do you begin?
Three books are especially helpful: Caring for the
Dead: Your Final Act of Love, by Lisa
Carlson; Guidebook for Creating Home Funerals
by Jerri Lyons; and Dealing Creatively with
Death, A Manual of Death Education and Simple
Burial by Ernest Morgan.
Carlson, executive director of the nonprofit Funeral
Consumers Alliance in South Burlington, Vermont, has become
a national spokesperson for the "do-it-yourself" funeral
movement in the last few years. She says such burials,
especially on private land, appear to be on the rise.
"There's no easy way to track it, but there seems to be an
ongoing interest in family burial. It's being done quietly,
but the number of inquiries on this topic at the Funeral
Consumers Alliance is definitely increasing."
The trend is totally predictable, she adds. "The generation
that demanded natural childbirth in the '60s and '70s, and
recycling in the '90s is wanting green burials, including
do-it-yourselfers, now."
Author Jerri Lyons is director of Final Passages, a
7-year-old not-for-profit organization in Sebastopol,
California, and a death midwife. Her goal with Final
Passages is "to reintroduce the concept of funerals in the
home as a part of family life and as a way to
deinstitutionalize death." Through this nonprofit project,
she provides information and education, and through her own
for-profit company, Home and Family Funerals, she offers
her death midwife services. She knows of several other
death midwives in California and one in Maryland: others
may be working quietly on their own in other areas.
Lyons personally has helped more than 200 California
families handle their own funerals, and she has counseled
many more across the country via the telephone. She says
she believes the widespread practice of having the deceased
person's body whisked away at the time of death by funeral
home personnel interrupts the normal grieving process and
destroys the coherence families can achieve on their own.
When the family handles is own funerals, members gain
"better closure, a sense of empowerment and substantial
economic savings."
Lyons' guidebook includes step-by-step instructions for
such things as washing and dressing the body to "lie in
honor," and handling transportation of the body home and/or
to the place of disposition, which is either cremation or
burial. The book also includes specific information on
government paperwork required for home funerals in
California.
Through Final Passages, Lyons presents workshops about
funeral options and about becoming death guides or death
midwives like herself.
Most of the families Lyons has helped used cremation for
disposition of the body. She also has participated in one
"earth friendly" or green burial, in the Sebastopol
Memorial Lawn Cemetery, an older, privately owned facility.
The body was not embalmed; the casket was pine and no vault
was used; the dirt was simply mounded up on the grave,
rather than being leveled as it is over a vault.
Lyons predicts green and home burials will increase if
information about them becomes more widely available. "Most
people in this country don't know they have the legal right
to care for their own loved ones when they die," she says.
The organization's Web site includes interviews with people
who have planned their own funerals and photographs of
burials, along with resource information. Death midwife
Jerri Lyons sits with Jasmine during her threeday wake,
which was held in a friend's home overlooking the Pacific
Ocean.
Carlson cautions persons who choose to handle death
privately to "take great care to follow all state and local
regulations. The requirements are not complex, but failure
to meet them can lead to unpleasant situations and create a
climate in which professionals become less willing to work
with families."
In her book, she explains the precision needed in filling
out a death certificate, required by every state, and she
reports situations where special death certificates are
required, including fetal deaths and those that require an
autopsy. She notes that special circumstances, such as an
extended time between death and disposition, may make
embalming necessary, but refrigeration or dry ice can take
the place of embalming in many instances. She also warns
readers to "never move a body without a permit or medical
permission."
Home burials require an examination of local zoning
ordinances, says Carlson. "For those with land in rural or
semi-rural areas, home burials usually are possible."
REMEMBER
Even if you use a conventional funeral home and cemetery,
be aware that embalming, expensive caskets and concrete
vaults generally are not required by law. Cemeteries may
set such requirements, and waive them if they choose. So,
if you want a simpler burial, ask around. You may find a
funeral home and cemetery that suits your needs.
If you are thinking about handling a funeral yourself, you
should know that most states clearly allow families to care
for their own dead, according to Lisa Carlson, author of
Caring for the Dead:Your Final Act
of Love. Only six states may limit families who
want to take charge of the process: Connecticut, Indiana,
Louisiana, Michigan (thanks to an uncooperative health
department despite a law that says otherwise), Nebraska and
New York. For more details, read Caring for the Dead,
or contact Carlson at www.funerals.org. If you don't
hire a funeral director, here are some things you should
know:
Death Certificates. A death certificate
stating the cause of death and signed by a doctor must be
filed, usually in the county or district where death
occurs, where a body is found, or where a body is removed
from a public conveyance or vehicle. This must usually be
accomplished before other permits are granted or before
final disposition.
Embalming. No state requires routine
embalming of all bodies. Refrigeration or dry ice can
substitute for embalming in most instances. Special
circumstances such as extended time between death and
disposition can necessitate embalming under state law.
Interstate transportation by a common carrier also may
require it.
Burial permits. In some states, when
burial will be outside the county or town where death
occurred, you will need an additional permit to inter from
the local registrar in that area. In many states, the top
of the coffin must be at least 3 feet below the soil
surface. A burial location should be 150 feet or more from
a water supply and outside the utility or power line
easements.
Moving a body. Never move a body without
having a permit or medical permission in hand!
Cremation. A special permit-to-cremate may
be needed; these are available from the local coroner or
medical examiner, and a modest fee is usually charged.
Join the Experts Online
Learn more about green burials and home funerals, and chat
with guest experts Dr. Billy and Kimberley Campbell, Lisa Carlson, John Wilkerson, Mary Woodsen and
Jerri Lyons on the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Web site at
www.motherearthnews.com/forums/
EACH YEAR IN THE U.S. we bury:
827,060 gallons of embalming fluid, which includes
formaldehyde 180,544,000 pounds of steel, in caskets
5,400,000 pounds of copper and bronze, in caskets 30
million board feet of hardwoods, including tropical woods,
in caskets 3,272,000,000 pounds of reinforced concrete in
vaults 28,000,000 pounds of steel in vaults
Statistics compiled by Mary Woodsen, vice president of
the Pre-Posthumous Society of Ithaca, New York, and a
science writer at Comell University.
For More Information
Funeral Consumers Alliance.
Lisa Carlson; 33 Patchen Road;
South Burlington, VT 05403;
(800) 765-0107
Final Passages. Jerri Lyons; PO.
Box 1721; Sebastopol, CA 95473;
(707) 824-0268
Memorial Ecosystems, Inc. and Ramsey Creek
Preserve.
Dr. Billy and Kimberley Campbell;
113 Retreat St.;
Westminster, SC 29693;
(864) 6477798
Glendale Memorial Nature Preserve.
John and Bill Wilkerson;
297 Railroad Ave.; DeFuniak Springs,
FL 32433; (850) 859-2141; www.glendalenaturepreserve.org
The North American Woodland Burial
Society.
An information exchange:
woodlandburial.htmlplanet.com
The Memorial Society of British
Columbia.
212-1847 W. Broadway;
Vancouver, British Columbia V6J 1Y6;
(604) 733-7705; www.memorialsocietybc.org
