The Gazette. Montreal
The wild grasses and saplings that grow unchecked in a quiet meadow off a highway here give little hint of what lies beneath. The 14-acre field near this village on the outskirts of Rugby could be a scene in a landscape painting by Turner or Constable. For now, it is the Greenhaven Woodland Burial Ground, the first of a growing number of “green burial” sites that have sprung up around Britain in the last decade.
As its name implies, green burial transforms funerals from lavish, resource-consuming productions into environmentally friendly, do-it-yourself tributes. Bodies are not embalmed, and are buried in simple coffins of soft wood or bamboo or even cardboard. Saplings or shrubs replace stones as grave markers. Once full, the sites will have become regenerated forests, and will be operated as nature preserves.
In Britain, such alternative burials are gaining in popularity. No reliable data exist about how many take place annually, but the London-based Natural Death Centre said the number of burial grounds offering them had risen to about 150 since Greenhaven opened in 1994. Greenhaven was the site of 23 burials in its first year; now, 75 a year are held there, its owners said.
Scattered efforts at establishing sites have been made in other countries, notably Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. But nowhere has the practice been so warmly embraced as in Britain, where a Scottish farmer recently opened the largest site so far, on 37 acres near Aberdeen, with space for 12,000 graves.
The expansion of interest appears driven by Britons’ mounting environmental awareness, desire for greater control over the rituals of death, rejection of organized religion, and diminishing burial space in traditional city cemeteries.
“The environmentally aware, baby- boom, hippie generation is now getting to the age where it’s something to be considered,” said Nick Temple of the Natural Death Centre, funded by a charitable foundation, donations, and sales of publications. “It’s helping to use land that’s not been used before, and it’s creating woodland.”
A typical green burial was that of 76-year-old Dieter Wolf. Before his death two years ago, Wolf said that though he wanted to be buried rather than cremated, he did not want a slow-to-decay hardwood coffin.
Sparing the environment was the most important factor in the outdoorsman’s choice, said his son-in-law, Andy Farquarson, adding that for the family, “the attractions were very much the same. Plus the burial could be totally in our control.”
After Wolf died at the Farquarsons’ home and his doctor certified the death, his family kept his body overnight. The next day, Greenhaven director Nick Hargreaves collected it in a propane- powered car.
Four days later, Wolf’s unembalmed body was driven to the grave site in his own camping van and buried in a reinforced cardboard coffin before 20 friends and family. A newly planted tree and flowers marked the grave.
“We felt the whole thing suited Dad, his way of life,” Farquarson said. “People I didn’t know said it was simple and moving, and the way to see the old man off.”
For those too squeamish to organize a green burial, the Natural Death Centre offers tips on do-it-yourself funerals, including how to preserve a body at home (turn off heat, open windows, and have dry ice delivered).
Hargreaves said most clients were elderly or terminally ill and made their own burial plans, rather than leaving it to survivors. More than 350 have been buried at Greenhaven since 1994; an additional 440 have purchased plots at a cost of $675.
The average green burial costs about $1,200, compared with the average $4,650 cost of a traditional British funeral. In addition to the plot, the price includes a $75 administration fee; $75 for transport; $130 to $450 for a cardboard, pine or woven bamboo coffin; and $180 for grave-digging.
While the Farquarsons paid final respects to Wolf as simply as possible, other ceremonies are more elaborate. Mourners at one recent burial gathered in the field afterward for a picnic lunch. Last week, gospel singers performed at a businessman’s burial, beneath a marquee sheltering 150 mourners.
Hargreaves’ stepfather’s family has owned the Greenhaven site for generations, but it had become unprofitable as agricultural land. Now, if 500 graves fill each acre, Hargreaves reckons the land will generate 50 times its value in revenue.
When the initial site is full, it will be turned over to a trust, to be preserved forever, he said: “We’re creating wildlife, not a church burial yard, and sustaining the environment and creating a choice for people.”