They say that cremation is not “Green”. It requires loads of gas and emits carbon dioxide…I believe. One is cremated at about 1800 degrees for roughly two to three hours. Then the ashes are so full of carbon that they don’t disintegrate or add nutrition to the land on which they are tossed hence there being an issue with ash disposal.
I was reading a seniors thread on society-culture.cn and in respond to a comment made by a gentleman that burial is $20,000…it’s not if you consult a home funeral specialist such as Jerrigrace Lyons of Final Passages. If you are in California you are required to be buried in a cemetery. Cemetery directors will try to “upsell” you but they will also respect your wishes within the “cemetery rules” which do require a cement liner although no coffin. It seems each cemetery is different. I believe that none of them require embalming, for example, but the strongly suggest it…why, I don’t quite understand. It may make the body dry out but eventually the chemicals do end up in the soil. Although they actually seal a body up pretty well.
Current burial practices go like this: A dead body is zipped up in a plastic bag, put on a gurney and taken out of the house or hospital to the funeral home where it is stored in a fridge around 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Then a stranger (the mortician) washes the body, drains it of fluid (which include ramming the organs so that they “pop” and release fluid), fills it back up with chemicals, puts make-up on it, dresses it and moves it into a casket.
I recently went to a cemetary to ask questions to a most helpful cemetary director who showed me all of the caskets. They are works of art manufactured mainly by the Bates company. They range from about $1000 to $24000! The difference is that the expensive ones have real hardware. The cheapies have plastic hardware made to look like real hardware. Of course, one only wants the best for their loved one so they usually spend a little more than they had planned.
But my point is this: if you know what is going to happen to you, I’d guarantee that most of you would prefer something more heartfelt and authentic. Expensive doesn’t mean meaningful.
Green burial options are wrapping the body and a shroud and or putting them into a plain pine box and or a cardboard box. Why pine instead of walnut? What do you thing? It dis-integrates. It is a soft wood. And that’s the whole point of green burial.
More to follow…
And presentations to come.
Filed under: Green Burial, Green Cemeteries | Tagged: Green Burial
