Resources and Information Supporting Green Burial in North America
By Philip Proefrock, Green Options
The move towards a greener lifestyle extends even to the end of life. Choices for the final resting place include some relatively new approaches. Many of these developments seem to be coming out of the United Kingdom and from Europe, though they are being adopted in other countries, as well.
Newfield cemetery takes unconventional approach to burials.
Back The entrance sign says “Greensprings Natural Cemetery.”
But where are the grave stones, mausoleums, well-manicured grassy plots and paved roads? The place looks more like a farmer’s field than a cemetery.
By: Wendy Skinner, Ithaca Times
“I was at the first Earth Day celebration, in Philadelphia … I was 11 … I had my clogs painted with the Earth Day symbol of the sun and the water and soil … I remember a lot of people, music … that whole free love, hippy, peace sign, groovy feeling. To me it felt more like a celebration and an honoring of the earth than of being worried about the earth or its survival.” Thirty-seven years later, Ithaca’s Sigrid Kulkowitz says she longs for the naïvely blissful feelings she felt in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park, where 20,000 people gathered to show support for the environment. “I know that 11-year-olds these days, like my son, are not that fortunate.”
Eco-friendly burials eschew headstones, embalming and pricey caskets made from exotic imported wood
By Nancy J. White, Toronto Star
Imagine a gently sloping hill covered with fallen leaves, green ferns and bright wildflowers, the branches of sturdy oaks and maples arching overhead. Birds chirp in the trees. Squirrels and chipmunks scamper on the ground.
Now imagine yourself buried underneath.
By Marcela Rojas, The Ithaca Journal
NEWFIELD, N.Y. -A short drive southwest of Ithaca, past the timeworn silos and one of the state’s last remaining covered bridges, sits Irish Hill Road, a winding dirt byway that stretches to a place where nature meets eternity.
By Margaret Price, New York Daily News
Young as he may be for it, Matthew Pearson, 44, has found his final resting place: Greengsprings Natural Cemetery. The bucolic site in the Finger Lakes region entails 93 acres of meadow, high grasses and trees. A one-time farm located atop Irish Hill, it is one of the highest points in Tompkins County.
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.
The Ithaca Journal
Work has begun on the Irish Hill Road property slated for New York state’s first environmentally-conscious cemetery. The Green Springs Natural Cemetery Association was told by the state cemetery board they do not need town approval as originally thought.
Burial ground’s dedication draws nearly 100
By Andrew Tutino, Ithaca Journal
NEWFIELD — The cold wind whipped through Sam Hernandez’s long black hair and pushed off his cap that advertised the Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve of Newfield. Greensprings officially opened for business Sunday, though no one was buried. Instead, the people who worked to make the natural burial ground a reality here held a dedication ceremony that attracted close to 100 interested people.
By Rebecca James, Syracuse Post-Standard
Susan Thomas’ dog bounds across the field, leaping out of the underbrush that covers the southern Tompkins County hilltop, intent on the scent of some small creature. Meanwhile, Thomas and Ed Oyer talk about death. The artist and the retired professor both like the idea of finding stone benches for this land where the names of the dead can be inscribed.