What Exactly Are Green Funerals?
There has been much excitement about green funerals and natural burials, and many more people want a funeral that is as natural as possible.
Some feel that they do not want to add pollution to the environment whilst others want to know that their body becomes part of the earth and contributes to the cycle of life after their death. Some find great beauty in the natural world, and would like their death and their funeral to belong to this realm as closely as possible.
A green funeral usually involves a coffin made of natural, simple materials and burial in a natural burial ground or on private land.
Usually there is no headstone or permanent marker on the grave but in a few sites a memorial tree may be planted. Other sites are designed as parkland, so do not have a tree for each person, and will remain as meadowland.
A wider aspect of green funerals is often the feeling that death is a natural part of life, and as such it is more openly discussed, and less taboo.
What Is Involved?
Generally speaking, people who choose a green funeral typically want to be more involved in the planning and carrying out of the funeral and bring their own creativity and care to the whole process.
This might involve helping in the preparation of the person's body, but more certainly in the design, content, and delivery of the funeral ceremony itself, including the possibility of filling in the grave themselves.
Even if Family Tree Funeral Company is not being used as the funeral director, we encourage the attitude that every aspect of the process following a death is an important part of the ceremony, and can involve those closest to the person who has died, including children.
Environmental Concerns
Family Tree Funeral Company supports reduced consumption of energy and materials in our lavish culture. We can recommend coffins, gowns, liners, transport and burial and cremation practices that use less energy, fewer chemicals, and that more easily revert to their natural state.
The environmental impact from traditional funeral practices can be reduced; but it is a complex subject. For example, bamboo that is harvested from wilderness areas of China, eating into the shrinking habitats of tigers and panda bears, may be environmentally less friendly than local willow.
In this choice, as in so many environmental decisions, there is an extra financial cost to consider. We are learning and asking questions, as are our suppliers, and this is without doubt a crucially important enquiry, one with which we can each be actively engaged.
There are other difficult environmental decisions to be made. There are times when embalming (with its carcinogenic formaldehyde’s) provides the temporary preservation that allows a family the breathing space that is needed for a proper farewell to happen. In other circumstances, the embalming process and its associated products would be clearly avoided.
It’s not all 'damage limitation' however. A positive contribution can be made by burial on a natural burial site, where green space is enriched, and supports a diverse wildlife habitat, preserved from extensive building projects or GM crops.
We are happy to be involved and talk with you about the ecological aspects of the funeral, and will work to arrive at a solution that is both right for you, and that takes account of a time beyond our own.
How Green Is Your Coffin?
A traditional standard coffin is made from woodchip, bonded with formaldehyde glues with plastic (looks like gold) handles. However, many coffins are made from natural and easily biodegradable materials, such as willow, sea-grass, water hyacinth, banana leaf, bamboo, or timber grown from sustainable sources.
You can also have a simple cloth shroud (whose fabric can be obtained organically grown), or a state-of-the-art 'ecopod', made fromre-cycled materials and covered with hand-made paper. You can see examples of our burial coffins here.
Transport
We can talk with you about more environmentally friendly transport…Perhaps a horse drawn grocer’s wagon (limited distance only), or a hand cart may be appropriate? We are also more than happy to use our own bio-diesel estate car too.
Local Sites
Although there is still some space available at Brimscombe, the area around Family Tree Funeral Company is not particularly well served for natural burial grounds. However, various individuals and organisations are actively pursuing land suitable for natural burial grounds - in the belief that this not only meets the strong desire to have our dead buried close to the communities in which we live, but is also a valuable contribution to the environment.
The green burial site at Brimscombe is hard to find and almost full, but quiet, and quite beautiful – though steep! It is the un-consecrated top part of the local Stroud District Council cemetery and is only for people living inside the boundaries of Stroud District Council.
It is expensive, due in part to the stony ground, and the reality that even a hedgerow tree requires plenty of space to flourish. The fee of £1,548.68 (to April 2008) includes provision and upkeep of the tree. (which can be Hawthorn, Rowan, Field Maple, Cherry or Birch). There are no plans to extend the ground or start a new one.
For more information you can contact us on 01453 767769 or Marion Humphries at Stroud District Council 01453 754 425.
Other Natural Burial Grounds
We do keep some information on burial sites outside of our own local Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Avon and Somerset area, and for a full list you should refer you to 'The Natural Death Centre', whose telephone number is 0207 359 8391, or visit their website at www.naturaldeath.org
Green Cremations?
Almost three quarters of people in this country are cremated; while there are new and increasingly stringent controls on cremator emissions and insulation, (with considerable extra investment required), crematoria still use large amounts of natural gas, and produce significant emissions (crematoria account for 11% of atmospheric dioxin, and 15% of mercury gas - from the amalgum in our fillings).
On the plus side, most crematoria now recycle the artificial hips, knees, elbows, and other metal body implants that remain after the ashes have cooled, rather than all being buried together in a special grave. They are now sold - with the monies donated to charities, and made £50,000 in 2006.
Local crematoria require funeral directors to sign a declaration that there are no PVC’s, plastics, fibreglass, styrofoams, zinc or rubber products in the coffin or in the clothing. Many crematoria now have a monitor that can detect such products while they are burning.
Other Greener Ways To Go
A trend that will develop in line with its increased availability is that known as promession, which was developed in Sweden. This largely organic process freezes the body, vibrates it, dries the resulting granule particles and removes all the metals. The remains can be buried in a coffin (which can be buried at a depth where the micro organisms break it all down inside a year) or used as an excellent compost ingredient or mulch. Several UK Councils are actively considering this new approach.
‘Alkaline hydrolysis’ is operating in three US states, and uses heat, pressure, and potassium hydroxide to create a sterile liquid and a bone powder.
Water Resomation is also operating in America, and is being considered by various UK cemetery authorities.
We expect further developments in the more organic ways of dealing with a person’s body after they have died.
