Forest of Memories

Green-burial movement gets more ambitious
By Gregory Dicum, Grist

“I’d prefer to be put in the ground, under a tree,” says Joe Sehee, contemplating his inevitable demise. “But I don’t want to go in the ground with anything, I just want to be buried in a simple pine box or shroud, and that’s it.”

If Sehee has given his preferences a lot of thought lately, it’s not that he’s planning to shuffle off this mortal coil any more imminently than the rest of us — it’s just that, as executive director of the Green Burial Council, it’s his job.

(more…)

By Susan Ager, Detroit Free Press

For Aunt Helen, we needed no concrete burial vault. She asked to move, after her death, to a mausoleum. We did, however, choose a mid-priced casket and enlist the services of a funeral home, including embalming. With other incidentals (transportation, newspaper death notices, holy cards, a tip to the minister) we managed to work the cost of her no-procession, no-limo, five-hour funeral up over $6,000.

(more…)

By William Kates, Associated Press

NEWFIELD, N.Y. — It sits on the eastern fringe of New York’s Finger Lakes region and is bounded on three sides by 8,000 acres of protected forests: the perfectly natural place to spend an eternity. The 93-acre Greensprings Natural Cemetery is the first of its kind in New York and one of just a handful in the United States, where interest in “green” burial is just taking root.

(more…)