The Green Burial Guidebook

by Elizabeth Fournier

  Viewing and visitation: Where will the visitation take place? How long will the service be? Will it be open to the public or only to invited guests? Some people are not interested in this option and prefer to have a closed casket or fully tied shroud where the body cannot be viewed yet people can physically be in its presence for closure.

  Carpooling or guest transportation: Encourage guests to carpool or use ride shares to the visitation and the funeral. Put someone in charge of coordinating this. This helps make your funeral as green as the burial, and sharing transportation encourages people to share stories and make connections.

  Donations, gifts, and receiving flowers: Have a basket or table ready for items that might be brought to the service by guests. Possibly offer an option besides flowers in announcements (see “Cut the Flowers,” page 141).

  Announcements and invitations: Will the funeral or burial information be delivered via phone or internet, or would you like to create something printed on recycled paper? Do you want to personalize this with a take-home gift for guests, such as “seed cards” as a green option?

  Food: Are you looking at catering, a potluck, or a few people cooking? Maybe just some healthy snacks and beverages? Any drinks? If you plan to lay out a buffet spread, turn to “Sustainable Mourning Meals,” page 140.

  Helpers: Do you need anyone to help clean, prepare, build, or manage the space for the service? Do you need to appoint anyone to lift, create, or organize items? Call on your family and friends who have offered to lend a hand.

  Harry: Crafting His Own Casket

  As examples of what green burials and home funerals can be like, I want to share a couple of substantial, sustainable final farewells that I had the pleasure to be involved with. Harry was a most precious man who lived in my community. His birthday came on a Wednesday; his wife, Mildred, invited me over to talk about the reality of green options, which her beloved Harry had read about in Mother Jones magazine.

  Upon learning that a casket could be made out of any organic matter, as long as it was able to bear the weight of its occupant, Harry resolved to make his own casket prior to his passing. Medical tests gave him about a year or so to see this dream come true.

  One day, Harry left his bed at the break of dawn, marched out to the backyard, and using a kitchen cleaver, cut down a large bushel of bamboo. He enlisted a son to help him thatch a burial container that resembled a hope chest, in which the bamboo was held together with straw and dried mud. Harry’s future casket spent plenty of time hardening in the summer sun, then it lived in the garage through the soggy fall.

  Just before Halloween, Harry left the Earth. I joined his family at the house that evening. His daughter-in-law had baked his favorite peach pie, and his son helped me bathe and dress the man of the hour while we listened to Tony Bennett and Mel Tormé take turns singing in the living room.

  Harry spent that evening in his self-made bamboo casket, right in the living room, as neighbors and former coworkers came by to say their good-byes. Outside, his two nephews were in the backyard bamboo grove, using a tractor to dig Harry’s final resting space. They had borrowed the machinery from a neighbor, and one nephew already knew how to operate it. Fortunately, the grassy backyard was level, and the bamboo was quite pliable, which eased the nephews’ work.

  The family hired me to help ensure the backyard burial was legal in Clackamas County and followed county regulations. I contacted the county planning and zoning department to confirm the plot of land was considered rural. I also walked the area to look for any watersheds, make sure the grave was at least fifty feet away from the neighbor’s home, and check for hardships, such as sinkholes or outcroppings of rock.

  When Harry’s grave was ready, the nephews and neighbors slowly carried him outside. At the graveside, everyone shared some laughs and some toasts, and then the casket was lowered. Simple and sweet, just like he was.

  John: The Power of Music

  John’s death was imminent. He was in his early fifties and in the final stage of pancreatic cancer. The hospice nurse predicted he only had a few days left before he would be metaphorically crossing the road to see what was on the other side. Family members started arriving and took turns sitting next to his bed, holding his hand, and reassuring him with their presence that he would not die alone. They didn’t know what else to do. The kitchen across the hall from the bedroom was overflowing with loved ones and good food. It served as a place of respite for John’s many caregivers. Some days were quiet and sad; others were filled with storytelling as people reminisced with John.

  Everyone was in the room the moment John drew his last shallow breath. The raggedy noise was followed by a deafening silence. No one moved for about fifteen minutes, until Jacob slipped out to fetch his guitar. Then we heard the almost angelic strains of “Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton. Everyone sat silently and Marielle recited a prayer. Someone brought in champagne from the kitchen, and everyone toasted John. Jacob kept playing music on his guitar: “For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her” by Simon and Garfunkel and then Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” Then John’s mother read aloud the thoughts she had jotted down the previous night while sitting with John holding his hand. Everything happened organically and in perfect timing.

  People started arriving, and Jacob kept playing songs on his guitar. John was sprayed with his favorite cologne, and with the help of two friends, he was nestled into a wool blanket his father had from army days. Stories, music, and love drifted all through the house as we waited for the call from the local gravedigger that they were ready for us to bring John.

  The week prior, the family had visited the cemetery to pick his burial spot, pay and sign the papers, and choose the boulder and inspirational quote that would serve as his grave marker. The family would have preferred a backyard burial on their own property, but this wasn’t allowed where they live in Portland. However, they were at peace, since they felt John would have loved the small cemetery they selected for him, which had a designated green burial area.

  Once the call from the cemetery came, the neighbors brought their Chrysler van (with the back seats down) up to the bedroom deck. Due to his medical treatments, John had become so shrunken that only two men were needed to carry him wrapped in his snug blanket. The music from the guitar set a lovely tone. The tender time was unceasing through the journey from the bedroom, out the sliding glass door, into the vehicle, and through the gates of the cemetery.

  We stood in silence in the cemetery. It was all so natural and so very real. Nothing needed to be said. When the group felt ready, the sexton pushed the button on the lowering device to lower John into the grave. One by one, each person moved to the hole, peered in, and said their good-byes. As the group quietly left the graveyard in their vehicles, the sexton and I shoveled the soil into the grave as I shared with him how lovely the day had been with John and his community.

  Planning the Burial

  Not all home funerals end with a green burial. Many families opt for cremation or a standard, modern burial, so only consider the advice in this section that applies to your situation. However, whatever your plans, the central advice is to anticipate problems and be flexible as necessary. You may be fully devoted to realizing your vision, but sometimes weather, burial containers, and humans, whether dead or alive, can ruin your planned-to-the-letter event.

  In addition to the emotional and spiritual aspects of funerals, there are always logistical and practical factors to consider: For instance, what’s the weather forecast? What season is it? If you’re holding a backyard burial, is the ground frozen or flooded and not suitable for digging? Have you anticipated every step of transporting your loved one from their deathbed to the gravesite? Do you have all the tools and equipment you need, and a backup plan if things change? If anyone will be upset by your and your loved one’s wish to have a home funeral and a green burial, might they refuse to attend the service or could they hold up the burial if they don’t agree with it?

  What
if the deceased is a bit of a trickster and decides to enjoy some mayhem at their final farewell?

  Of course, you can’t anticipate every problem. But here is a list of the things you should take care of prior to a loved one’s death, to make sure that everything runs smoothly (or as smoothly as it can) when the time comes.

  Paperwork: Do you have a completed death certificate (and burial permit, if your state requires it)? Is there any will or legal documents that need to be located and read over?

  Hired helpers: Will you need a funeral director? A machine operator? An engineer?

  Volunteer helpers: Have you asked or assigned people to help with the service and handling the body? Do you need pallbearers, gravediggers, drivers, a volunteer coordinator?

  Cemetery: Has everything been paid for? Has the legal owner of the grave space signed the interment authorization? Does the driver know the best route to the cemetery? Have they done a dry run to check for current construction zones or any unknowns?

  Backyard burial: Have you confirmed the suitability and legality of the gravesite? Has the exact space been decided on?

  Transportation of the body: Do you have a vehicle, or can you borrow one? Have you confirmed the burial container fits in the vehicle? Who will drive and load the body into the vehicle? What is the plan for removing the body at the final destination?

  Burial container: What do you plan to use? Do you have it ready? Who will act as pallbearers, and do they need instruction on how to handle the container? Do you need a lowering board or device under it?

  Gravedigging plan: Do you have the necessary tools and helpers when it’s time to dig? Have you inspected the soil and located any obstacles?

  Unusual Gravesites and Trouble with Transport

  As with ceremonies, I want to share a few stories about burials I’ve attended over the years. In this case, these snafus and hiccups provide useful lessons for anticipating and troubleshooting common problems that may also come up for you.

  For instance, a family once approached me after their patriarch had passed away of natural circumstances in a hospital. The family didn’t have a burial plan, and they asked me to place the man in refrigeration until they could decide what to do. Finally, they decided they would bury him out by his favorite fire pit in the backyard. However, the family didn’t think through the logistics of their desired location, and getting there became an epic struggle.

  The issue was maneuvering the deceased in his cardboard burial container from my vehicle all the way across the field to his burial space. The family knew the land wasn’t suitable to drive over, and the man was too heavy, and the container too bulky, for people to carry. So they planned to use a rolling cart.

  However, the cart wasn’t long enough. The cardboard box was hanging off the back and threatening to collapse under its own weight. The family tried to enlist help from available neighbors to carry their loved one, but again, the cardboard container wasn’t sturdy enough.

  In my van, I had a church truck, which is an accordion-style folding aluminum rack that’s used to transport caskets into a church. We decided to use this, since it could support the caskets and its heavy-duty wheels might manage the field. As we rolled about halfway across, everything seemed kosher. Then we hit a very sandy area. The heavy-duty tires sank, and the church truck became hopelessly stuck. The weight of the man and the casket sank the apparatus being used to propel him forward to the grave space. Thankfully, it was early on a beautiful day with a clear blue sky, and some ingenious neighbors devised a towing mechanism with a riding lawnmower that successfully got the man where he needed to be, and he was buried without further obstacles.

  Thinking back, I realize what would have been a better solution. We could have laid plywood to line our path. The even planking would have given the church truck a firm, clear surface for travel, and the wheels would have glided over, rather than sunk into, the sand. Also, the family could have arranged for a sufficiently large four-wheel-drive vehicle to successfully carry the casket across the sketchy, uneven field.

  Looks Like Rain

  A family was anticipating their mother’s death, and they had done their homework for a backyard burial, marking the specific spot where they wanted to dig. They were justifiably proud of their organization. But as the end of their mother’s life drew near, I had to be the bearer of bad news: The weather was taking a turn for the worse, and it looked as if freezing rain might be coming. I advised them to dig the grave now, ahead of the storm.

  Of course, if they did, then the freshly dug grave might have filled with water and leaves, so I strategized how to place a tarp over the grave to protect it. However, the family eventually decided to wait a few more days to see what the weather would do. Sure enough, the mother died, the rain came, and the ground was frozen solid. Rather than hold the lovely service that the family had planned, they put their mother in refrigeration for a week waiting for the ground to thaw.

  The opposite scenario happened to another family. Faced with impending rain, they predug the grave several days ahead of the burial. Rather than cover the open hole with a solid, rainproof tarp, however, they thought they could get away with just a net to keep the leaves out. They assumed the rainwater would be absorbed, and all would be easy peasy come burial time. Then it rained harder than expected, and the grave became a bit of a pond. They chose to use a sump pump to empty the rainwater rather than wait unknown hours for the water to slowly permeate the soil.

  The lesson here is clear: Always watch the weather and be prepared. I know, I know. Easy to say, not so easy to do. Bad weather can impact our plans almost no matter what we do. However, these families would have saved themselves heartache and trouble if they had prepared for the worst rather than hoped for the best.

  If you find yourself in the same situation, here’s my advice: Go ahead and predig the grave. Then use a waterproof tarp (or two) to keep rain from filling the grave with water. If precipitation is light but winds are strong, you might use a net to keep leaves from filling up the space, or place plywood boards over it to stop dirt from blowing in. I once had a family pitch a tent over the open grave in order to protect the hole, as well as to protect their three dogs from falling in. (For more information and advice on grave maintenance, see the endnotes.)

  Summertime Blues

  Then there was the home funeral where it was way too hot inside, so the family opened the windows, but they didn’t have screens, so the insects came in, making the viewing rather unpleasant.

  During the warmer months, it is imperative that the room containing the body be as cool as possible. Make sure the room has a tight-fitting door that can fully close, and use an air-conditioning unit in the window or turn up the central AC. Fans can help, but they won’t cool a space like air-conditioning. Especially if burial does not occur within the first twenty-four hours, a body needs to remain refrigeration-level cold to keep decomposition at bay for as long as possible. Again, up to a few days is normally what you can expect before the body wants to naturally break down.

  Practice Makes Perfect

  During home funerals, people are often doing things they’ve never done before, and unfortunately, they sometimes learn the hard way — through mistakes. I remember one funeral where the shroud covering the deceased wasn’t tied securely, and regrettably, it came loose, exposing Grandma in her birthday suit to everyone at the service.

  Oh, dear! This was so tragically sad. If you are using a shroud, blanket, sheet, or really, doing anything for the first time, practice before the time comes. Do a dry run, and check that caskets fit through doorways and into vehicles. Practice tying a shroud on the living so that you don’t have to figure it out in the moment, when emotions are high. If nothing else, this provides a unique and unusual experience you’ll never forget.

  Chapter 10

  CREMATION

  Traditional cremation is certainly on the rise in all areas of the United States and Canada, yet it is not an environmentally friendly proc
ess, and it’s not considered a form of green burial. As I discuss in chapter 1 (see “Cremation: Ashes to Ashes Doesn’t Always Mean Green,” page 24), traditional cremation creates fossil-fuel emissions, and the ashes themselves can contain toxins. However, a new green method of cremation is rising in popularity, and there are certainly a number of creative and eco-friendly ways to preserve one’s “cremains,” as they are called.

  Alkaline Hydrolysis

  The process called alkaline hydrolysis — also known as water resomation, bio-cremation, and flameless cremation — uses heat, lye, and water to dissolve or break down a human body into liquid and some remaining bone.

  Dean Fisher, who heads UCLA’s Body Donation Program, says this process works with a light carbon footprint “because it catalyzes the hydrogen in water to more rapidly attack the chemical bonds between molecules in the body.”

  Alkaline hydrolysis is generally done in a large stainless-steel cylinder, with a person’s former life vehicle amounting to a coffee-colored liquid that can be safely disposed of down a drain. The remaining bone fragments are ground into a powder and given to the family, much like a traditional cremation.

  While costs vary, alkaline hydrolysis typically costs $150 to $500 more than traditional cremation. Otherwise, this is the clear green choice. For instance, the Sierra Club writes, “Lower temperatures help reduce carbon emissions; alkaline hydrolysis’s emissions are just 10 to 15 percent of cremation’s.” The table below compares the carbon emissions of traditional cremation to those of alkaline hydrolysis.

  TRADITIONAL CREMATION VS. ALKALINE HYDROLYSIS: CARBON FOOTPRINT COMPARISON

  (credit: Sandy Sullivan, Resomation, Inc.)

  Dr. Billy Campbell, steward of Ramsey Creek Preserve, the first noted US green burial ground, has researched the process of resomation and found that it occurs naturally when a body is buried in neutral or slightly alkaline soil. He writes, “To a great extent the bodies are decomposed by alkaline hydrolysis, expedited by soil bacteria and it is a very slow process.”