Victoria Times - Colonist.
Cremation or burial in a glossy casket?
It’s not much of a choice for people who don’t like the idea of spending eternity in an urn or surrounded by the hard, grey concrete of a cemetery. Better instead to quickly become one with the soil in a natural woodland setting, said Mildred MacLeod of Nanaimo.
“There’s a movement to bury people in their natural state, without concrete (grave) liners. No monuments, just shrubs and trees,” said MacLeod, board member and spokeswoman of the Memorial Society of B.C.
The idea of “green burials” is growing on the Island, with the society taking a proposal to the Regional District of Nanaimo development committee this month. “We’re interested in providing people with an economical option for disposal of their bodies according to their wishes,” said MacLeod.
Any available cemetery space in traditional cemeteries requires liners of concrete in each grave or tomb, said Mildred. But being sealed in a concrete tomb isn’t what green-burial advocates want.
“We want the body to go back quickly to the soil in a park-like area,” she said.
No laws prevent green burials but communities must designate an area where the burials will take place, said Mary Freeman, registrar of cemetery and burial services with the Attorney General’s Ministry. Aware of the popularity of green burials in England, she didn’t know of anything like it in Canada.
One the main proponents of green burials in England — Nicholas Albery, director of the Natural Death Centre — has made a request in his will to be buried with no coffin. He wants to be wrapped in a sheet, under a piece of farmland he and his wife were given as a wedding present, with an apple tree planted on top.
People in favour of green burials don’t consider cremations a valid ecological option because the burning of wooden coffins releases toxins into the air. Being buried in a wooden coffin is slightly less harmful because it locks greenhouse gases underground.
England has 85 green burial grounds in existence. Forty more are in the planning stages. At these woodland burial grounds, there are no headstones. A tree is planted for each grave. For those not using undertakers, cardboard coffins are used. Wooden coffins and woollen shrouds are also used.
“Green” caskets available via the Internet include the “Brighton” model that is completely biodegradable. It comes in a flat pack form and assembles in less than 10 minutes.