July 19, 2006
'Green' burial
I saw this article a while back: 'Green' burial offers a plot with a view. The idea is to be buried in a way that doesn't protect you from the environment.
At Greensprings, where a plot costs $500 plus a $350 fee to dig the grave, bodies cannot be embalmed or otherwise chemically preserved. They must be buried in biodegradable caskets without linings or metal ornamentation.
The cemetery suggests locally harvested woods, wicker or cloth shrouds. Concrete or steel burial vaults are not allowed. Nor are standing monuments, upright tombstones or statues.
Only flat, natural fieldstones are permitted as grave markers (they can be engraved). Shrubs or trees are preferred.
And only one person is allowed in each 15-foot-by-15-foot plot.
"This is more than just dig a hole in the woods and roll them in. We see it as a natural return to the Earth, becoming part of the circle of life," said Mary Woodsen, a lifelong conservationist and the cemetery's president.
Makes perfect sense to me. I figure it's been the fate of most human remains from the 'invention' of burial many thousands of years ago until relatively recently, when people started practicing cremation, embalming, mummification, and the like. I've never wanted to be buried in a traditional cemetery. And I like this idea better than cremation. Plus it's cheaper and more environmentally friendly.
Oh yeah... you can also have yourself freeze-dried and shattered. I mentioned this last year:
Next year, a town in Sweden will start burying their dead using a new environmentally friendly method in which bodies are frozen, dipped in liquid nitrogen, and shattered into a powder. The powder is placed in a small box and buried in a shallow grave where it will disintegrate in 6-12 months.
19 Jul 2:39 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits