Burying Green
March 7th 2008 09:17
There are now some 200 ‘green’ burial sites in the UK. No doubt the number is much higher in the Germany where green has been in for much longer, but maybe not. I couldn’t see anything about green burial sites in Germany on the Net. I didn’t even get onto looking for them in the States.
Cardboard is the usual choice for the ‘coffin’ and there are number of different models. Claire Wallerstein of the Daily Mail says you can also
be buried in a “bamboo casket, a moss-lined woven willow nest” – or even a sack. In fact, you can just be buried without any covering, if you’re family can stand the thought of it. (We’ve always buried our family pets in a towel at the very least, so I can’t imagine burying any of my relatives just in their clothes.)
Of course you can still have all the full-scale funeral works: the service, the minister, the music. Just think in advance about what sort of state the relative lying up the front will be in.
In New Zealand, many people no longer want the bodies embalmed (something I’m inclined to agree is a good idea). However, to preserve the body until the day of the funeral you may need blocks of dry ice and oils such as frankincense, ti tree and eucalyptus, according to Aucklander Christine Foote, who runs The Natural Funeral Company.
Most of her clients opt for cremation (which doesn’t seem that green to me, personally), but there’s also a good deal of interest in burials like those at the eco-section of the Waikumete Cemetery in Glen Eden. There people can be buried in a woollen shroud fixed to a solid base, or in cardboard, untreated pine or macrocarpa, or the aforementioned basket-woven wicker. Trees are often used to mark the grave, as at this particular cemetery you can’t place a headstone.
Interestingly enough, the eco-coffins aren’t particularly cheap: $650 for Cardboard (it depends how respectful you want to be, but surely it’s possible to find cardboard at a cheaper price than this!) Baskets are $1100, Veneer $1100 and solid pine $1200. As always, it looks like people are making money out of funerals, even ‘natural’ ones.
Presumably, as with ‘ordinary’ funerals, you can arrange funeral insurance to cover the costs. Hopefully the premiums will be cheaper than for regular funerals. Though with everything else organic being more expensive, it’s probably unlikely!
Cardboard is the usual choice for the ‘coffin’ and there are number of different models. Claire Wallerstein of the Daily Mail says you can also
Photo by "Sparrows' Friend"
Of course you can still have all the full-scale funeral works: the service, the minister, the music. Just think in advance about what sort of state the relative lying up the front will be in.
In New Zealand, many people no longer want the bodies embalmed (something I’m inclined to agree is a good idea). However, to preserve the body until the day of the funeral you may need blocks of dry ice and oils such as frankincense, ti tree and eucalyptus, according to Aucklander Christine Foote, who runs The Natural Funeral Company.
Most of her clients opt for cremation (which doesn’t seem that green to me, personally), but there’s also a good deal of interest in burials like those at the eco-section of the Waikumete Cemetery in Glen Eden. There people can be buried in a woollen shroud fixed to a solid base, or in cardboard, untreated pine or macrocarpa, or the aforementioned basket-woven wicker. Trees are often used to mark the grave, as at this particular cemetery you can’t place a headstone.
Interestingly enough, the eco-coffins aren’t particularly cheap: $650 for Cardboard (it depends how respectful you want to be, but surely it’s possible to find cardboard at a cheaper price than this!) Baskets are $1100, Veneer $1100 and solid pine $1200. As always, it looks like people are making money out of funerals, even ‘natural’ ones.
Presumably, as with ‘ordinary’ funerals, you can arrange funeral insurance to cover the costs. Hopefully the premiums will be cheaper than for regular funerals. Though with everything else organic being more expensive, it’s probably unlikely!
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