By John Scull, The Land Trust Alliance of British Columbia
Which would you rather become: a lawn, a cloud of smoke, or a natural forest? Green Burial, also called Woodland Burial or Nature Reserve Burial, allows people this choice. Green Burial refers to the disposal of human remains by re-introducing them into the ecosystem. Green Burial contrasts on the one hand with traditional cemeteries with groomed lawns, stone or bronze markers, cement-lined graves, and permanent caskets and, on the other hand, with energyconsuming and air-polluting cremation.
Woodland Burials are well-established in the United Kingdom with about 140 woodland burial sites. A private company in the US, Memorial Ecosystems, Inc., has one woodland burial site and hopes to create more, working in cooperation with conservation organizations. It appears that they charge about $CDN 2,900 for a burial plot in a nature reserve.
Green Burials may offer a means for Land Trusts and Conservancies to finance the protection or restoration of natural, forest, agricultural, or heritage lands and create permanent community amenities while, at the same time, giving donors an opportunity to express their ecological ethics through their manner of burial. Rather than being incinerated or sealed away beneath a lawn, they can envision themselves becoming part of a living, diverse, natural ecosystem, recycled in a biodegradable container, free of embalming chemicals, and supporting future generations of all life.
The Memorial Society of British Columbia, with over 200,000 members, is a non-profit, nonsectarian organization committed to promoting simple, dignified funeral rites and to ensuring the availability of low cost funeral arrangements. About 2 years ago the Memorial Society conducted a study of Green Burials. The results included a brochure (published with support from the Real Estate Foundation), a website, and a file at the Memorial Society office with detailed information about relevant legislation and regulations. The Memorial Society plans to continue its work on Green Burials with the establishment of a committee early in 2003.
I obtained two estimates of the costs of cemetery plots: about $1,180 for a burial in Kamloops and $930 for one on Vancouver Island, plus the costs for labour and a grave marker. Cremation fees in B.C. seem to range from $290 to $970. Thus, the value of burial lots could be as much as $1,000,000 per hectare.
A Cemetery may be operated by an individual, company, church, municipality, or society. The operator wishing to establish or enlarge a cemetery must apply to the Registrar of Cemeteries for a Certificate of Public Interest and meet local zoning requirements. Under some circumstances, up to 4 ha of crown land may be made available for a cemetery. The cemetery is registered as an indefeasible title with the Land Title Office and the operator of a cemetery must meet a number of organizational and financial obligations as described in the Cemetery and Funeral Services Act, including establishing a maintenance and care fund. A Board of Trustees will be appointed, either by the registrar or by the operator, to oversee maintenance and operation of the cemetery. Individual lots may then be sold.
Working on their own or with a municipal government or other partners, a Land Trust may be able to protect or restore a large piece of land by selling Green Burial lots in one part of it. Another alternative would be to create a natural area instead of a monument-covered lawn in part of an existing cemetery, providing people with a way to express, in death, their ecological ethic.
Ellen Le Fevre, executive director of the Memorial Society of B. C., expressed her interest in further discussions about Green Burials with the Land Trust Alliance. Individual Land Trusts and Conservancies can ask the Memorial Society to include them on the list of persons to be notified of any new Green Burial initiatives as they develop.
Source - The Kingfisher, Issue 6 Winter / Spring 2003, LTA The Land Trust Alliance of British Columbia