Nanaimo Daily News
The Memorial Society of B.C. thinks there’s a better way to bury the dead. Instead of spending money on expensive coffins and putting people in ground, which has been reinforced with concrete sides to facilitate lawn-mowing, the Memorial Society wants to do something ecologically sound.
It’s called Green Burials.
Green Burials are already practised in Europe, particularly in England.
In a green burial a body is wrapped in a simple biodegradable shroud and returned to the earth — the earth in this case being a designated park or forest. A simple plaque on a stone or nearby tree marks the spot and gives the family a place to come and remember their loved one.
In England some “green sites” bury the deceased upright. The family then plants a tree to mark the place as a living memorial.
One benefit to green burials is cost, says Marjorie Stewart, a member of the Green Burials advisory committee. Plots in cities like Victoria can cost $10,000.
Crematoriums are running into green problems of their own. The smoke is not good for the environment, Stewart says.
“Crematoria are becoming unpopular in neighbourhoods.”
Most people react positively to the idea of green burial sites, Stewart says.
The memorial society envisions a potential site as a shared use park with another non-profit group such as the B.C. Land Conservancy. The two groups working together could help each other with the cost of land, Stewart says.
In the last year the memorial society has brought Marion Grau on board as a contract employee to do a feasibility study on green burials.
The feedback she received from the Registrar of Cemeteries was that there was no reason not to undertake green burials.
Green burials are not a problem — the problem is acquiring the land.
The second phase of Grau’s project is making contacts and raising funds to acquire suitable land.
Once they have the land and have the proper zoning in place, it won’t be long before green burials become a reality, Stewart says.
“Everything depends on keeping up the momentum. There’s absolutely no reason why it shouldn’t come to fruition. At this stage there’s a lot of volunteer effort involved.”