Resources and Information Supporting Green Burial in North America
By Kathryn Bursch, Tampa Bay’s 10 News
Glendale, Florida – As John Wilkerson walks across the land he grew up on, he still marvels at its beauty. “Oh it is beautiful… look around,” says John Wilkerson of the Glendale Memorial Nature Preserve.And on this hike, Wilkerson is looking for a resting place; not just any spot mind you, but his final resting place. Wilkerson says, “well eventually, somebody will dig a hole and put me in it.”
By Michael Scott Moore, Spiegel (Berlin)
As the first generation of Muslim immigrants to Germany get older, over 70 percent still plan to be buried in the country of their birth. Is integration a problem even in death? Yemos Vurgun was the frail matriarch of a Turkish immigrant family when she died in 1994, aged 90, and although she’d spent her last 14 years in Berlin, her son Ali Riza put her travel papers in order: She had one last trip to make.
Stuff.co.nz
A Marlborough man plans to give deceased nature-lovers the chance to permanently sleep with fish. Clive Barker, of the Marlborough Reef Trust, is seeking resource consent to build New Zealand’s first eco-burial reef.
Victoria Times - Colonist
Victoria, the cremation capital of North America, might be the first to have a “green-burial” site.
People have been looking for environmentally friendly options when it comes to death, said Stephen Olson of Royal Oak Burial Park, which is about 18 months away from opening a half-acre site dedicated to so-called green burials.
Bodies wrapped in shroud, placed in biodegradable caskets
By Carolyn Heiman, Victoria Times Colonist
A Saanich cemetery is working on a “green burial” site.People have been looking for environmentally friendly options when it comes to death, said Stephen Olson of Royal Oak Burial Park, which is about 18 months away from opening a half-acre site dedicated to so-called green burials.
The Vancouver Sun
Want to be kind to Mother Nature in death as in life? Consider planning a green burial.
Bodies are interred unembalmed in a biodegradable casket or shroud and graves do not contain liners, to allow remains to break down naturally. Graves may be marked by the planting of wildflowers or shrubs. The Ontario-based Natural Burial Cooperative calls the concept an ecologically responsive alternative to traditional burial that reduces resource consumption and offers families a way to honour a loved one’s values after death.
Although there are no dedicated green burial lands yet in Canada, the Natural Burial Cooperative is working toward opening its first site in Ontario.
By Kate Lohnes, The Monitor
When it comes to funerals, many people think their options are to either be embalmed and buried, or cremated.
Tyler Cassity puts new life back into the business of burial
David Ian Miller, The New York Observer
Tyler Cassity at Fernwood cemetery in Mill Valley. Photo … Tyler Cassity at Fernwood cemetery in Mill Valley. Photo … A green grave site at Fernwood cemetery in Mill Valley. P… Preparing for a green burial at Fernwood cemetery in Mill…
You might not expect a man whose business is death to be upbeat and optimistic, yet Tyler Cassity is anything but somber.
The Hereford Times
A Turner Prize-nominated funerary artist from Herefordshire has unveiled her latest creation - a sustainable boat-shaped coffin.