Alternative Funeral Monitor

New rules to allow natural burials in Dunedin | Otago Daily Times Online News Keep Up to Date Local, National New Zealand & International News

Natural burials could one day become Dunedin's only method of interment, and the rules for the city's cemeteries are to be rewritten to allow them, a Dunedin City Council staff member says.

via www.odt.co.nz

Judge sanctions Eden Memorial owner over evidence tampering | Community | Jewish Journal

[...As cemeteries lose income during the rush to cremation, more and more of them will cut corners in order to maximize revenues (and eventually minimize losses). The cemetery-side of the story is that the costs of upkeep outweigh the money allocated for maintenance. A natural burial lowers long-term maintenance costs and makes grave reclamation and reuse possible, a practice common in Europe today...AFM editor]

Read Original Article here -- Judge sanctions Eden Memorial owner over evidence tampering

By Julie Gruenbaum Fax

A Los Angeles judge has sanctioned Service Corporation International (SCI), owner of Eden Memorial Park in Mission Hills, after finding that the cemetery intentionally tampered with and destroyed evidence related to a class action lawsuit alleging that Eden mishandled human remains.

Judge Anthony J. Mohr of the Los Angeles Superior Court ordered that the plaintiff’s attorney will be allowed to present evidence to the jury showing that SCI willfully tampered with evidence, and the judge will inform jurors that they may reasonably conclude that the destroyed evidence could have been damaging.

LA County coroner sells own line of merchandise - Washington Times

LA County coroner sells own line of merchandise - Washington Times.

By Christina Hoag-Associated Press

LOS ANGELES | The morgue is about the last place you would think of to go shopping, so it's perhaps unsurprising that sales at Los Angeles County's coroner gift store are next to dead.

Tucked as unobtrusively as possible in a closed-door room off the coroner's lobby, the store is jam-packed with mortality-mocking merchandise: Water bottles marked "bodily fluids," boxer shorts dubbed "undertakers," toe tags, crime-scene tape and beach towels bearing the county coroner's trademarked symbol of a body outline.

Trouble is, few people know about the tongue-in-cheek store and its related website, Skeletons in a Closet (www.lacoroner.com/). The shop's biggest customers? No shock here -- homicide detectives.

"Most people know it through word of mouth," said Craig Harvey, the department's chief of operations. "But we are mentioned in guidebooks and we get tourists."

Oregon's voices in the green-burial movement see increase in interest | OregonLive.com

Oregon's voices in the green-burial movement see increase in interest | OregonLive.com.
Published: Thursday, July 29, 2010, 3:00 PM
by Laurie Robinson, The Oregonian

The voices for a green grave are sprouting all over. The Shroud Lady in Southeast Portland. The Green Reaper in Boring. The button-down funeral director who now wants a wicker casket for his own burial. Conservationists who want to preserve land, not bodies.

"We don't need to pickle people," science teacher Larry Hurst of Southwest Portland says of embalming fluid, which he describes as poison in the ground. And, he says, we don't need to be encased in concrete vaults or grave liners that many cemeteries require so the ground doesn't sink over time.

Green: It’s the New Black

From Portland Monthly Magazine

Green up your final act by embracing your own biodegradability

By Zach Dundas

Photo: Kurt Hettle

You drove a Prius and bought carbon offsets. Whenever you could, you biked to work. You schlepped cloth bags to the grocery store—most of the time. You actually gave Greenpeace canvassers the time of day, and you forked over hard-earned cash to the Sierra Club and the Nature Conservancy. You ate countless pounds of chard from a one-acre, biodiesel-powered organic farm in Troutdale. You installed solar panels and channeled your gutter downspouts into rain barrels. You treated the weekly recycling sort as a commandment from Gaia.

Well done. Now, however, things have changed: you’re dead. Whither your hard-earned green credentials now that relatives are pawing through your organic cotton wardrobe and divvying up your certified-forest-friendly furniture?

NYT - Into the Great Green Beyond

June 30, 2010, 8:31 am - NEW YORK TIMES

Into the Great Green Beyond

By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF

At the end of an eco-conscious life, there is a final choice a person can make to limit his or her impact on the planet: a green funeral.

“Consumers might live green, but they don’t think about dying green,” said Darren Crouch, president of Passages International, with offices in Albuquerque, N.M., and Berkshire, England, which supplies funeral homes with environmentally friendly caskets and urns. “They don’t know that they can green their funeral.”

Of the more than 2.4 million deaths per year in the United States, roughly 70 percent of the newly departed are interred in traditional caskets — that is, wood, steel or even copper caskets, many of which are then encased in slabs of reinforced concrete to prevent the weight of the earth from causing them to collapse. For those who go the casket route, embalming with toxic chemicals like formaldehyde remains common.

Bonner Springs High School students build, donate infant caskets - KansasCity.com

The erratic buzz of saws reverberates through the Bonner Springs High School wood shop weeks after school let out.

via www.kansascity.com

The smell and taste of fine pine dust lingers in the air. And teacher Kris Munsch can’t help but smile with satisfaction while watching his students gently handle the lumber.

The summer project isn’t like the chip-and-dip platters or nightstands they crafted during the school year. The teenagers are transforming wood into pine caskets for infants.

Having lost his teenage son almost five years ago, Munsch has never hesitated to talk to his students about life and death. So when he heard about families who couldn’t afford a casket for their deceased newborns, Munsch shared it with some students.

America's first National Pagan Burial Ground

Circle Cemetery
America’s First National Pagan Burial Ground
Preserving Nature & Greening the End of Life
(608) 924-2216 * circle@circlesanctuary.org


Circle Cemetery is located at Circle Sanctuary Nature Preserve, just north of Barneveld, Wisconsin, about 25 miles west of Madison near Blue Mound State Park. Founded in 1995, Circle Cemetery is the first National Pagan Burial Ground and one of the first exclusively "Green" or Conservation Cemeteries in the United States. Conservation cemeteries are as the name implies – cemeteries situated in preserved natural areas. They usually include places for cremains as well as sites for Green burials. Green burial is returning a non-embalmed body to the earth in a natural, biodegradable container. 

Ashland, Oregon changes Municipal Code to allow natural burial

GROUNDED IN NATURE

City OKs 'green' burials

Council changes municipal code in order to accommodate growing demand for services

By Vickie Aldous

Ashland Daily TidingsPosted: 2:00 AM May 24, 2010

Residents who want to bury loved ones in an environmentally sensitive way in Ashland no longer have to place the casket or shroud inside a concrete or metal liner or vault.

The Ashland City Council voted on Tuesday to allow such "green" burials in city cemeteries.

Previously, the Ashland Municipal Code required the use of liners or vaults to prevent settling of the ground at the grave site. City staff members who manage city cemeteries said they expect some settling to occur with green burials, but that the problem isn't anything they can't handle.

The city of Ashland made the change because it has been receiving requests from residents that green burials be allowed, said Ashland Public Works Director Mike Faught.

Metro Times - News Views: Grave debate

Metro Times - News Views: Grave debate.

As octogenarians, Ann Arbor residents Jean and John King are, not surprisingly, giving some thought to what will be done with their remains after they pass.

But, because they live in Michigan, their options are limited.

Jean King says they know they want to be cremated and have their ashes delivered to a family plot outside of Pittsburgh --  they get that much of a choice. But they might want home funerals to spare their family the expense of an event orchestrated at a funeral home.

Sales of the death men | Kansan.com

By Kevin Hardy
Thursday, April 22, 2010

[a very good feature article on the funeral business in Kansas...AFM ed.]

Sales of the death men | Kansan.com.

Todd Miller slowly positions the head of the body between plastic blocks as Curtis Foley makes a 2-inch incision on the neck near the collar bone. Miller then digs beneath the skin, grasps the carotid artery and jugular vein and pulls them toward the surface, tying them together to ensure easy access for later. Foley makes a tiny cut for a tube to enter each vessel.

Meanwhile, Miller closes the corpse's eyes. He uses plastic eye caps lined with a texture similar to Velcro to affix the eyeball to the lid. This prevents the eyes from sinking into the skull and keeps the eyelids from dehydrating.

"Cancer's taking his life, not his sense of humor" | The Register-Guard | Eugene, Oregon

News: Local | "Cancer's taking his life, not his sense of humor" | The Register-Guard | Eugene, Oregon.
By Tim Christie
The Register-Guard
Appeared in print: Saturday,Apr 17, 2010

Cancer sucks. Life is good. Choose joy.

Those are words Aaron Jamison lives by these days. The 37-year-old Springfield resident is choosing to live his life with as much joy — and no small amount of offbeat humor — as anyone with a terminal case of colon cancer can muster.

That helps explain why Jamison has decided to sell advertising space on a pair of funeral urns, one of which will go to his wife when he dies, and one to his parents. He hopes to sell at least eight ads, at $100 a pop, so he can pay for his cremation and funeral ahead of time. So far, he has sold two ads — one to Terese’s Place restaurant in Springfield, and one to Cry Baby Ink tattoo parlor in the Valley River Mall.

Minnesota Senate bill 2903 empowers individual's at end of life

[Licensed funeral directors have failed to respond rapidly enough to changing American values. refusing to supply the public with affordable environmental options. Recognizing the government needs to get out of the way of a citizen-driven market (rather than protect an industry's marketshare, the Minnesota Senate is taking steps to reform its statutes to reflect citizens' need to control the costs, activities and impacts of funerals...AFM Ed.] 

S.F. No. 2903, 1st Engrossment - 86th Legislative Session (2009-2010)   Posted on Mar 18, 2010

1.1A bill for an act

1.2relating to mortuary science; modifying provisions related to viewing,
1.3transporting, and removal of a dead human body; amending Minnesota Statutes
1.42008, sections 149A.01, subdivision 3; 149A.71, subdivision 2; 149A.72,
1.5subdivision 2; 149A.90, subdivisions 4, 6, 7; 149A.91, subdivisions 2, 3;
1.6149A.93, subdivisions 6, 7; 149A.94, subdivision 1; Minnesota Statutes 2009
1.7Supplement, section 149A.80, subdivision 2.
1.8BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.9    Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 149A.01, subdivision 3, is amended to
1.10read:

When the bereaved must battle bureaucracy - UK Telegraph

[Our funeral colleagues in the UK continue to delight me with their sensitivity, insight, and intelligence. I picked this up off Charles Cowling's "Good Funeral Guide" blog -- AFM ed]

When the bereaved must battle bureaucracy - Telegraph.

By George Pitcher

I'm afraid I slipped into a daydream in church on Easter morn yesterday. It started by wondering how different the story might have been if the Jerusalem of 2,000 years ago was like the London Borough of Bromley today.

The idea that Joseph of Arimathea could have got a quick verbal consent from the head of the local authority to take possession of Jesus's body would be ridiculous; he'd never have got the paperwork organised in time. Mary Magdalen would have been so tied up with the bereavement services she'd never have got back to the tomb before dawn. And that's before having to explain to the bureaucrats that the tomb turned out to be empty. 

Summerland Natural Cemetery gets its Day in Court

"Green" cemetery backers sue Bibb - Local & State - Macon.com.

[We've followed the Summerland story at the AFM. The owners were unfairly discriminated against and we're glad to see they're taking Bibb County to task- Ed]

The backers of Summerland Natural Cemetery sued the Bibb County government in federal court Thursday, contending that the county had no right to pass an ordinance specifically to block the “green” cemetery from ever opening.

Summerland Group Inc. wants a federal judge to overturn the county’s ordinance, then force the county to pay unspecified amounts of money in damages, reimburse legal expenses and allow the cemetery to be built under guidelines from the Macon-Bibb County Planning & Zoning Commission, which already approved the project.

Read more: http://www.macon.com/2010/04/03/1081509/green-cemetery-backers-sue-bibb.html#ixzz0kEeQNRpS

The Perils of Plastic - Environmental Toxins - TIME

[This excellent article by Bryan Walsh in the April 1 2010 edition of TIME Magazine contains important information the public needs to help it assess the threat of chemicals in the environment. One of the challenges facing supporters of less polluting funeral options like PLASTIC FREE CASKETS is the "proof" of the products' potential to do harm. Walsh's article translates those perils into everyday language that the average non-scientist can understand. Read the original article onsite -- the text is stored here for archival purposes only. Kudos to TIME for commissioning this report!/ AFM Ed]

The Perils of Plastic - Environmental Toxins - TIME.

On the first Earth Day, celebrated 40 years ago this month, the U.S. was a poisoned nation. Dense air pollution blanketed cities like Los Angeles, where smog alerts were a fact of life. Dangerous pesticides like DDT were still in use, and water pollution was rampant — symbolized by raging fires on Cleveland's Cuyahoga River, captured in a famous 1969 story for TIME. But the green movement that was energized by Earth Day — and the landmark federal actions that followed it — changed much of that. Today air pollution is down significantly in most urban areas, the water is cleaner, and even the Cuyahoga is home to fish again. Though climate change looms as a long-term threat, the 40th anniversary of Earth Day will see a much cleaner country.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1976909_1976908,00.html#ixzz0k33EsLpb

First Green Jewish Cemetery Opens

First Green Jewish cemetery opens | JTA - Jewish & Israel News.

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) -- The first Green Jewish cemetery in the United States was dedicated.

Gan Yarok, Hebrew for "green garden" is a Jewish section of the Forever Fernwood Natural Burial Ground in Mill Valley, Calif., just north of San Francisco. It was dedicated last Friday.

Rabbi Stuart Kelman, chair of the cemetery's rabbinic advisory council, says no concrete liners or embalming fluid will be used. Bodies may be buried either in plain wooden boxes, wicker baskets or just in shrouds.

No pesticides or other chemicals are used on the grounds, and graves are marked by simple carved boulders instead of concrete or bronze markers.

Gan Yarok includes Orthodox, Conservative and community areas, each with its own regulations. Five local congregations, from Orthodox to Renewal, have joined the Gan Yarok Association, which gives its members heavily discounted prices on burial plots.

"Green Cemetery" Still Has Some Residents Concerned

"Green Cemetery" Still Has Some Residents Concerned.

It might be as organic as it gets, and one funeral home in Rockingham County [Virginia] has the OK to do it.

On Wednesday night, the county board of supervisors approved Kyger Funeral Home's request to create a green cemetery. The board voted three-to-two to approve the request, but concerned residents say the slight margin only adds to their hesitation.

A green burial is one that uses green embalming fluids and a biodegradable casket or no casket at all.

Casket Makers Dig In as Sales Take Hit - WSJ.com

By Dana Mattioli - via online.wsj.com

As their sales slow, some casket makers worry their business is hitting a dead end.

Sales of caskets have been declining for years as more people choose cremation. But the economic slump is compounding the industry's woes as those who do pick caskets buy cheaper, more spartan accommodations for the hereafter.

In response, casket makers are diversifying, building less expensive models and expanding cremation offerings. The country's biggest casket maker, Hillenbrand Inc., parent of Batesville Casket, is going outside the funeral business altogether. Earlier this year it said it would spend $435 million to buy K-Tron International Inc., which makes factory equipment.

via online.wsj.com

Ode Magazine : The joy of dirt

Here's a recent article by Larry Gallagher in Ode Magazine, where your AFM editor is quoted, somewhat sideways...

"After I shed this mortal coil, I would like to get back into the mix as directly as possible. I call Cynthia Beal, who runs a company called Natural Burial Company that sells products and services to assist in the effort to reintegrate with the planet in a more orderly fashion. “It’s all about dinner,” she says. “In this case, you’re what’s for dinner. You will be the life of the party—literally.”

[he got that part right. The next bit is a tad truncated and destroys much of any useful accuracy by eliminating the context of our conversation.]

Larry continues:

"she says the fastest way to dispose of your body is not to bury it at all, although for obvious reasons she is not recommending this. Next best is a shallow grave, 20 to 24 inches (a little more than 50 centimeters) deep, since this is where many of the organisms that will be eating you are living. The rest you are already carrying around with you in your gut."

While 20-4 inches is "next best" for the most rapid decomposition (which was his question to me), it is not what we do when we bury people in cemeteries, even natural ones. Generally, burial takes place with at least 20-24" of soil ON TOP of the body. However, that said, you can read more of Larry's interesting article by visiting Ode Magazine's link...

via www.odemagazine.com

New Jersey eco-funerals increase in popularity

Paul Diamant reports on Eco-Funerals in New Jersey for the Star Ledger:

LINK

"[a natural burial is] what Paul Magalhaes Sr. wanted, so last October, when the 78-year-old North Bergen man was considering personal burial plans, he settled on a new "eco option" at Maryrest Cemetery in Mahwah. After his death last month, Magalhaes was interred in Maryrest — the first person to be "ecologically buried" in one of the country’s first Catholic cemeteries with an environmentally sensitive section.'"

Diamant's story was stimulated when the Maryrest Cemetery in Mahwah, New Jersey, escalated its plans for a natural burial site in its existing cemetery. Until Mr. Magalhaes' passing, the plans were on the drawing board, but funeral director Bob Prout knew of the family's wishes and encouraged Maryrest's director Andrew Schafer to step up the pace.

He did, and now the Archdiocese of Newark has natural burial options for all its families...

WFMZ TV News - Profiles E. Nicos Elias natural funerals in Allentown, Pennsylvania

"Going Green in the Afterlife"

CLIPPING:

You can now go green even in the afterlife. Funeral homes are offering more options to those who want to return to nature more naturally.Going green, even in death, can be a reality.

"This is bamboo - construction can also be wicker, sea grass and solid wood," said Nicos Elias. "Unlike steel, which lasts for centuries, these caskets are biodegradable, as are the eco urns. Paper mache is designed to return to the earth naturally," said Elias... LINK:http://www.wfmz.com/news/22514293/detail.html

 Bo Koltnow reports that Elias' funeral home, one of the first in the US to offer natural funerals, is doing well. 5% of his business is "green" and the percentage is rising.  Elias' is one of the charter signers of the Natural End Pledge, and was one of the first funeral homes in the country to stock Natural Burial Company coffins.

Visit Nicos' Elias funeral home webpage - http://www.eliasfuneralhome.com

Removing Outmoded Restrictions on Home Funerals

November 12, 2009 - « Minnesota Threshold Network

At the October 26th meeting of the Minnesota Threshold Network, we spent most of our time strategizing on how to improve Minnesota state laws governing home funerals.

Our major concern is that Minnesota is the only state in the nation that requires embalming for public viewing [149A.91 Subd. 3]. This means that families cannot legally hold a vigil for a deceased loved one (without embalming) in their own home with anyone other than immediate family members present. There is no scientific basis for such a requirement, and this statue should be removed to give families more choices at the end of life.

November 12, 2009 - « Minnesota Threshold Network

At the October 26th meeting of the Minnesota Threshold Network, we spent most of our time strategizing on how to improve Minnesota state laws governing home funerals.

Our major concern is that Minnesota is the only state in the nation that requires embalming for public viewing [149A.91 Subd. 3]. This means that families cannot legally hold a vigil for a deceased loved one (without embalming) in their own home with anyone other than immediate family members present. There is no scientific basis for such a requirement, and this statue should be removed to give families more choices at the end of life.

Wisconsin Cemetery and Cremation - WCCA Reporter, Fall 2009

[Prairie Home natural cemetery manager David Brenner of Waukesha Wisconsin has a good article in here about transitioning his cemetery to natural burial - ed]

 About 2 years ago, I was reading various environmental articles about such things as carbon foot print, energy alternatives, rain gardens and a plethora of other such topics.  All of these articles spoke to new trends and things that one could do to be friendlier to mother earth.  I also saw writings that dealt with the move to “green” burials in England, and what was happening there since the 1990’s. 

I found it very intriguing that the new” trend was really talking about something very old, and a practice that is widely followed in many parts of the world today. 

Rhode Island: Assembly overrides veto of domestic partners’ funeral rights

Rhode Island General Assembly > Press Releases -- Feb. 2, 2010

Assembly overrides veto of domestic partners’ funeral rights

  STATE HOUSE – Overriding the governor’s veto, the General Assembly today approved legislation sponsored by Sen. Rhoda E. Perry and Rep. David A. Segal to provide domestic partners with the right to make funeral arrangements for their partners.

“Today we’re standing on the side of compassion. This veto was a heartless act against many Rhode Islanders – people who already suffer frequent discrimination and who are grieving the loss of a loved one. With this vote, we’re saying that we believe that everyone deserves the right to carry out the final wishes of his or her partner. Our state will not be in the business of discriminating against people in their time of mourning, nor making the death of a person’s partner even worse with unnecessary and unfair bureaucracy,” said Sen. Rhoda E. Perry (D-Dist. 3, Providence.)

Comptroller's office knew of Burr Oak remains in '03

via abclocal.go.com

- 1/30/10 - Chicago News - abc7chicago.com

January 29, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Executives of the Burr Oak Cemetery believed more than six years ago that bodies had been improperly buried. And the details of what they knew are in a confidential five-page memo obtained by the ABC7 I-Team.

The public didn't learn about what was happening at the historic black cemetery in southwest suburban Alsip until last May when a groundskeeper found some skeletons where they shouldn't have been.

An investigation then determined that hundreds of corpses had been dug up and moved - many dumped - in an elaborate scheme to re-sell burial plots. Four Burr Oak employees have been charged with felonies.

A five-page memo, marked confidential and obtained by the I-Team, reveals that Burr Oak's chief executive, Slivy Cotton, feared in 2003 that there was a grave selling plot underway.

A tree instead of a head stone . Lock up your carbon in a tree and not the at the atmosphere,leave a footprint to be proud of. Leave a cleaner world for future generations. www.greenhaven.org.uk

Langley eyes fees for green burials

via www.seattlepi.com

  By ROY JACOBSON
SOUTH WHIDBEY RECORD

The first reading of a proposed new fee schedule to include green burials at the city cemetery will occupy the Langley City Council at its meeting next week.

The council meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 1, at city hall on Second Street.

The city’s Cemetery Board came up with a suggested price for the new green-burial plots at Langley Woodman Cemetery.

The cemetery has set aside 48 plots for green burials, which are done without cement grave liners or embalming, and involve biodegradable caskets or sheaths.

Green is the new black for funerals - Times Online

Rest in (eco) peace. Planning permission is being sought for Ireland’s first natural burial ground, where the occupiers’ graves would form the foundation of a native Irish forest.

Colin McAteer, founder of The Green Graveyard Company, has leased a 7.5-acre site at Woodbrook House in Wexford for the project. He believes a growing number of Irish people are interested in using their funeral as “a conservation tool”, and giving their burial ground a “second use and life”.

New Jersey Natural Burials and Green Funerals

Verona, NJ (PRWEB) January 19, 2010 -- Maryrest Cemetery in Mahwah, NJ, one of ten Catholic Cemeteries owned by the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ, has had its first interment in a new section of the cemetery dedicated entirely to Natural Burials / Green Funerals. It is believed that this is the first Archdiocesan cemetery in the state, perhaps in the country, that has an entire area reserved for the eco-friendly burial consumer.

via www.prweb.com

"GREEN BURIAL" in Sleepy Hollow, New York is now on Craigslist

Historic Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Unveils Green Burial space

The Riverview Natural Burial Grounds at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery provides a landscape of unmatched natural beauty for those seeking a ¡§Green Burial¡¨ option for themselves or their loved ones.

‘Make it more simple’ - Group envisions a ‘green’ ground on land in Jaffre

Group envisions a ‘green’ ground on land in Jaffrey

By Casey Farrar
Sentinel Staff

Published: Friday, January 15, 2010

JAFFREY — Right now, it’s an empty 5.7-acre field on Davidson Road in Jaffrey.

But members of the town’s Quaker Meeting hope that soon, they’ll have a 60-by 90-foot “green” burial ground in that field near the meetinghouse.

Pre-Paid Funeral Arrangements Becoming More Popular?

Source: SouthCoastToday.com
by Tom McGill

Most people have a family doctor, a lawyer, an accountant, maybe even a financial planner and a personal trainer; not many have a family funeral director.

Sitting down with a funeral director can accomplish three goals, according to the American Association of Retired Persons Web site (AARP.org). Map out a funeral in advance down to the last detail; free the family from making funeral arrangements in a time of grief, and provide the option of beating inflation by paying for the funeral in advance.

With 2 million deaths every year in the United States, according to the AARP ("Preplanning Your Funeral Arrangements"), and with funeral costs escalating at triple the rate of inflation, according to Funeral Help Program, the message from these and other consumer advocacy groups is — plan ahead.

Natural crossing :: Good :: New Zealand’s guide to sustainable living

Natural crossing :: Good :: New Zealand’s guide to sustainable living. 

December, 2009

[...this is a very well-written article about New Zealand's natural funeral movement... AFM Ed.]

When Steve Hill woke up in the early hours of the morning, his wife Helen was dead. He had been expecting something to happen that night. After four-and-a-half years fighting breast cancer, Helen’s strength had gone. She had pulled her oxygen tube out earlier in the evening, just before Steve got into bed beside her, and she’d asked him not to put it in again.

Their two young sons were asleep in the large Balmoral house. Steve woke Kane (six) and Nico (four) and brought them in to see their mum. They went straight to her, held her and cried. Over the next three days, as family and friends came and went, Helen remained in her bed. Her sisters chose her clothes and helped put ice packs around her body to prevent it deteriorating. A friend from the cosmetics company MAC, which Helen had launched in New Zealand, did her makeup; another friend styled her hair.

Steve slept next to her every night. Kane and Nico came in whenever they wanted to have a cuddle and talk to Mum. When the wicker coffin that Helen had chosen arrived, they placed it in the bedroom and the boys jumped up and down inside it. Helen was rarely alone. The house was full of people and activity. One of Helen’s sisters helped Steve carve messages into the flax that would be placed on top of her casket. Someone else arranged for a flock of doves to be released at the funeral.

The toxic legacy of death

Coffins are traditionally made of MDF or unsustainable hardwoods, lined with synthetic materials, and are carried using plastic handles. Some of these materials will never break down, while others take many years and leave behind all the toxins that went into their manufacture. Bodies are embalmed with a cocktail of chemicals, including formaldehyde. When bodies are buried, this known carcinogen can leach into the surrounding soil, polluting both it and the water table. Despite this, the funeral industry buries 1.5 million litres of formaldehyde every year.

Graves moved in Northeast cemetery to make way for parking lot | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/07/2009

Graves moved in Northeast cemetery to make way for parking lot | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/07/2009.

by Sam Wood

Once an estate owned by Declaration of Independence signer Benjamin Rush, the Knights of Pythias Greenwood Cemetery was chartered in 1869 as an inviting burial park with rolling hills and tree-lined paths.

Scores of veterans of the Civil War and Spanish American War are interred at the 44-acre burial ground in the Northeast. Perhaps its most famous residents are W.C. Fields' parents, James and Kate Dukenfield.

Now, on six muddy acres, archaeologists are digging up the remains of thousands of people. Since July, more than 1,500 bodies have been disinterred to make way for the Cancer Treatment Center of America's need for 200 parking spots.

Green Funerals « Vancouver Unitarians for Climate Action

Green Funerals « Vancouver Unitarians for Climate Action.

The City of Vancouver’s Mountain View Cemetery has been providing interment space for more than 100 years. The cemetery’s rules have always allowed for many elements of what is now referred to as “green burial”.

In addition to no requirements for outer containers or vaults, the cemetery continues to be one of the only cemeteries that offers families opportunities for multi-generational use of graves for casket burial – a practice that not only has “green” elements but is a significant factor to the overall sustainability of the city’s only cemetery.

A recent renovation of a portion of the cemetery has resulted in more than 2,000 new spaces for cremated remains, new buildings and facilities and opportunities for artists to display their funerary items. This is only the beginning of the new future for Mountain View Cemetery.

Natural burial grounds offer eco-friendly end-of-life alternative» Knoxville News Sentinel

Natural burial grounds offer eco-friendly end-of-life alternative» Knoxville News Sentinel.

When Marie Alcorn first mentioned the idea of having a green burial when she dies, her family had a hard time taking her seriously. "I've been thrifty all my life.

My family is used to my 'thinking outside the box' when it comes to ways to cut costs," says Alcorn, who lives in downtown Knoxville. Her family teased her about the idea, but for Alcorn, the joke soon became serious.

"The more I looked at it, I realized that it would be a good option. The whole focus is on being good stewards of the Earth," says Alcorn. "Now I'm seriously thinking about this alternative, although my children are having a hard time talking about anything relating to my death."

Daily Vanguard - To die a green death

Daily Vanguard - To die a green death.

By Robin Tinker

Vanguard staff

Not all of us will graduate college, give birth, win a Rose Bowl or even cook a Thanksgiving dinner, but we all will eventually die. Our own mortality and that of our loved ones is not something we spend a lot of time thinking about and planning for, but it should be.

We have a major taboo in our country regarding death. Our hush-hush attitude, besides being weird and unnatural, is arguably going to cause environmental problems. We cannot keep going forward with our current funeral practices without reexamination. Some in Oregon are starting to consider going green, even in death.

Saying ‘good bye’ and going out green | Editorial | Coast Reporter, Sunshine Coast, BC

Saying ‘good bye’ and going out green | Editorial | Coast Reporter, Sunshine Coast, BC.

It must be right at the top of the list of difficult things to talk about — death.

Few people cannot name at least one experience they’ve had with death that hasn’t forced them to confront their own mortality or somehow left a scar they carry with them. Usually the last aspect one might think of is the environment.

But there is one man on the Sunshine Coast who is seeking to change that. Gibsons resident Don Morris presented some of his ideas to the Sunshine Coast Regional District Nov. 19, claiming it is time for us to start taking a look at the way we exit this world to see if we can’t do it a bit greener.

Don is pitching the idea of green burials.

Death goes green with eco-friendly burials | Oregon Environmental News - – OregonLive.com

Death goes green with eco-friendly burials | Oregon Environmental News - – OregonLive.com.

Bruce Clark asked his family to fulfill a single last wish as he lay dying of cancer last month in his Eugene home: He wanted to be buried in a forest.

The request was true to Clark's environmental values. He believed that traditional burials and even cremations use far too many resources. His family didn't possess forestland, so they gave him the next best thing, a "green burial" beside his ancestors in a pioneer cemetery.

"He's in a good spot," said his sister, Megan Clark. "He would have liked it."

Funeral fair opens door to eco-friendly exits

Funeral fair opens door to eco-friendly exits.

It's hard to always be ecologically correct - especially when you're dead. In the Bay Area, however, it's getting easier to die green. No need for embalming fluids, mortuary wakes, fancy caskets and concrete vaults. Instead, a corpse can be propped up in bed at home to receive visitors one last time before returning to the earth, wrapped in a shroud or nestled in a biodegradable coffin.

Carlamuses: How to Piss Off the Fatally Ill

Carlamuses: How to Piss Off the Fatally Ill.

Monday, November 16, 2009
How to Piss Off the Fatally Ill

How to talk to someone with ALS: The Do’s and Don’ts 1) If someone tells you that they have ALS, do not respond by saying, “You know I’ve been getting these headaches. Do you think I have ALS?” I’m not saying never do this. You may do this if the ALS patient to whom you’re addressing is, let’s say, A FUCKING NEUROSURGEON. You may also say, “You know I’ve been getting these headaches. Do you think I have ALS?” if you’re okay with...

Environmentalism Goes Beyond the Grave - The Daily Californian

Environmentalism Goes Beyond the Grave - The Daily Californian.

By Kelly Strickland Contributing Writer Thursday, November 12, 2009 

Berkeley residents are known for being environmentally conscious, and last weekend, they had the opportunity to learn how to continue this passion while six feet under.

With a display of banana-leaf caskets and urns made of pumpkin gourds, a funeral fair held at Berkeley's Grace North Church hoped to educate people on eco-friendly burial options.

According to Liz O'Connell-Gates, one of the organizers of the event, the funeral fair was meant to show people that it is still possible to be environmentally conscious even in death.

Auspicious Jots: Funeral Directors Congregate - Boston Runs Low on Whiskey

Auspicious Jots: Funeral Directors Congregate - Boston Runs Low on Whiskey.

My apologies to the fine people of Boston, Massachusetts. I have spent my fifth work related trip there but have failed to see the sights or have a decent meal yet again. Somebody could make a fortune directing business travelers to a real restaurant, but that is a rant for another day.

Let's talk death, my friends! I went to another Funeral Convention. This was my fourth national convention and my worst fears have come true. A person CAN get used to walking into a convention center to the sight of acres of caskets, hearses, and urns. For the first time I did not get that jolting urge to run or laugh too loudly out of nervousness upon entering the convention center. Bummer.

Wal-Mart Selling Caskets, Urns Online Just Like Costco

Wal-Mart Selling Caskets, Urns Online - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com.

MILWAUKEE — The world's largest retailer wants to keep its customers even after they die. Wal-Mart has started selling caskets on its Web site at prices that undercut many funeral homes, long the major seller of caskets.

The move follows a similar one by discount rival Costco, which also sells caskets on its site. Wal-Mart quietly put up about 15 caskets and dozens of urns on its Web site last week. Prices range from $999 for models like "Dad Remembered" and "Mom Remembered" steel caskets to the mid-level $1,699 "Executive Privilege." All are less than $2,000, except for the Sienna Bronze Casket, which sells for $3,199. Caskets ship within 48 hours.

Federal law requires funeral homes to accept third-party caskets. Returns are not accepted, the company says on its site, unless the product has been damaged during shipping. The caskets come from Star Legacy Funeral Network, Inc., a company based in McHenry, Illinois, that sells the same caskets for about the same price — some less — on its site, along with many others.

Getting back to basics: Green burials offered at historic cemetery | Shore News Today

Getting back to basics: Green burials offered at historic cemetery | Shore News Today.

STEELMANTOWN—Driving down Steelmantown Road there is a secluded wrought iron gate that peeks out of the woods and unless you were driving there specifically, you probably wouldn’t notice the wooden sign telling passersby what they have found. A rare find indeed, the Steelmantown Cemetery is one of 12 certified green burial sites in the nation. [hundreds of cemeteries around the country offer natural burials - in our opinion "certification " - a marketing strategy at this point - is not necessary and harms the public's ability to get easy access to a simple solution. AFM ed.]

People from as far north as Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., make it their last wish to be laid to rest at this forested burial ground.

Green burials date back to the beginning of mankind, long before anyone was being ‘green’ and long before there were other ways to bury someone. The concept is simple, go back into the earth in the most natural way possible. And to make sure Steelmantown Cemetery can only ever do green burials, Edward Bixby II had the property deed restricted.

Embalming Fluid Facility Cited for Formaldehyde Hazards -- Occupational Health & Safety

Embalming Fluid Facility Cited for Formaldehyde Hazards -- Occupational Health & Safety.

OSHA has cited The Dodge Co. Inc. for 41 alleged violations of workplace safety and health standards at its Cambridge, Mass., production plant.

The embalming fluid manufacturer faces $138,000 in fines for inadequate safeguards involving formaldehyde stored and used in manufacturing processes at the plant as well as for various chemical, mechanical, and electrical hazards identified during comprehensive inspections conducted over the past several months by OSHA's area office in Andover, Mass.

Embalming Fluid Facility Cited for Formaldehyde Hazards -- Occupational Health & Safety

Embalming Fluid Facility Cited for Formaldehyde Hazards -- Occupational Health & Safety.

OSHA has cited The Dodge Co. Inc. for 41 alleged violations of workplace safety and health standards at its Cambridge, Mass., production plant.

The embalming fluid manufacturer faces $138,000 in fines for inadequate safeguards involving formaldehyde stored and used in manufacturing processes at the plant as well as for various chemical, mechanical, and electrical hazards identified during comprehensive inspections conducted over the past several months by OSHA's area office in Andover, Mass.

White Columns Funeral Chapel Installs 5.8kW Solar Photovoltaic System from Soenso Energy | Atlanta Daybook

White Columns Funeral Chapel Installs 5.8kW Solar Photovoltaic System from Soenso Energy | Atlanta Daybook.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, October 13, 2009 –

Soenso Energy president, Roger K. Cone, today announced that work is complete on the installation of a solar photovoltaic (PV) system on the roof of White Columns Funeral Chapel in Mableton, Georgia.

This is believed to be the first installation of clean, renewable solar power on a funeral home in the state of Georgia. The 5.8kW system is designed to offset approximately 40% of the annual electricity energy needs of this facility in south Cobb County.

It Costs Money to Die - The Nation

It Costs Money to Die.

History Archive - December 19, 1928
Paul Blanshard: Forty-five years before Jessica Mitford's exposè of the funeral industry, Paul Blanshard found out just how expensive dying can be.

AMONG certain ancient tribes it was the custom to throw upon the funeral pyre the clothing, jewelry, and money belonging to the deceased. Occasionally a widow or a slave was thrown in for good measure. We in the United States do nothing so foolish. We merely throw into the grave annually several hundred million dollars. We throw it in in the form of bronze caskets, flowers, stone cases, silk paddings, gold handles, and mausoleums.

The corpse does not know the difference. Most of the American people if asked indi-vidually whether or not they wanted an ostentatious funeral would reply that they cared nothing whatever about what happened to their bodies after death. Yet the extravagant funeral is always with us.