Resources and Information Supporting Green Burial in North America
Electronically translated (AKA, very poorly translated) from French
By Sophie Massé, Urbania
Raoul Bretzel and Anna Citelli, two Italian designers, are proud to present Capsuled it Mundi. An organic coffin. A large egg of bioplastic which can accommodate the body in foetal position
Le décès écologique expliqué aux vivants
Texte : Sophie Massé
Vous pourriez quitter votre vie terrestre réduit en compost, à bord d’un grand oeuf ou d’un sarcophage en papier recyclé. Et que diriez-vous de léguer votre ADN à une plante ?
By Bridget Wayland, Harrowsmith Country Life Magazine
You recycle. You carpool. You go organic. If you re an ecoconscious person, you try to minimize your impact on the planet every chance you get. How ironic, then, if all the virtuous principles you lived by get overturned in the end-the very end.
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 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.
By David Sheffield, The Link
My grandmother ended her journey through this life a couple of months ago. She had lived generously and she died well. When the time came to look into funeral arrangements, we found that she had pre-planned, pre-paid, and taken care of all of the details herself. She was an independent gal right to the end.
The funeral home she had chosen was outstanding in their attention to her wishes and our feelings as we grieved her loss. As I observed the process of how we deal with the death of our loved ones, however, it became apparent to me that something as simple and natural as death may have become unnecessarily complicated.
Guelph landscape architect proposes an ecologically sound `green’ cemetery
By Thana Dharmarajah, Guelph Mercury
Picture a cemetery where the grass and wildflowers are unkempt. Imagine headstones replaced by tree plantings or inscribed rocks. A Guelph landscape architect is proposing to launch a “green” cemetery at a time when people beginning to think outside the box for ways to bury their loved ones.
“People are not spiritually satisfied with what is available.” Mike Salisbury said. “They look at the way we treat our loved ones in death as cold and business-like.”