Before the final curtain is drawn on our lives, we can make environmentally friendly choices as to how our funeral and burial is conducted.
When my mother passed away a few years back at the age of 50, it was an incredibly sad time. While I had experienced death through my work at a hospital, I had never been to a funeral - that process was a mystery to me. Her decisions as to what should be done with her remains reflected upon the way she led her life - humbly and always thinking of others.
She requested that there be no embalming, no viewing, no monuments, a simple and small service, no flowers, a very simple casket and cremation. Her ashes were spread in places she loved in Australia and around the world. People overseas held their own small services to commemorate her.
While my mother loved nature, I don't know if her decisions were environmentally motivated and I doubt so, but more that she didn't want to be a bother; bless her :). We were lucky enough to have an excellent funeral director and I learned a great deal during the process about how we treat our dead.
Death in the West is generally not very environmentally friendly. It's often a reflection of our lives as consumers. While a funeral is an important part of the grieving process for those of us left behind, there's much we can do to have less of an impact on the environment when we pass on.
After we die, if our wishes are for an open casket viewing, we need to be embalmed. The following are the more invasive aspects of that process (a warning to the queasy)
1. Arterial embalming - injection of embalming chemicals into the blood vessels
2. Cavity embalming - internal fluids removed and more embalming chemicals placed into cavities.
3. Hypodermic embalming, more embalming chemicals under the skin where required.
4. Surface embalming in cases of viewable injuries.
Cosmetics may also be applied, also fragrances.
Embalming fluid is usually made up of formaldehyde, methanol and ethanol. Formaldehyde is carcinogenic and a common environmental pollutant.
Do you really wish for this to happen to your body? Is a viewing necessary? I'm not criticizing if you do; but these are aspects you may not have considered.
Then comes the casket or coffin - aside from the energy used to create elaborate coffins, they are often made with various plastics, varnishes solvents and glues, with some even being lead lined. Coffins made from particle board also contain formaldehyde. These chemicals leach into the surrounding soil and in the case of cremation, can release dioxins, hydrochloric acid, sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and other chemicals into the atmosphere.
The funeral itself can be an elaborate and resource intensive affair with flowers, motorcades and people travelling from all points of the globe to attend. Burial is also taking up increasing amounts of land - acres and acres of marble slabs, headstones and not much else.
For the environmentally conscious person concerned as much about the impact of their death on nature as they are of their life; many funeral directors are recognizing this and offering green funerals and burials.
For instance, in relation to caskets there are more readily biodegrable options such as this wicker casket:
.. and this is a concept I really like - the coffin cover:
Images courtesy of Steven Mears Memorial Center
A UK company performing green funerals and burials
The body is placed into a cardboard box which is then slid into the coffin cover for the service. After the service, the cardboard box is removed and buried or cremated. The cover can then be reused. This option means less trees are used for making coffins, it speeds up the decomposition process and also decreases the amount of energy needed if the remains are to be cremated.
The coffin cover not only makes good environmental sense, but also financial - cardboard coffins cost a fraction of even the simplest solid wood caskets. Other environmentally friendly caskets are made from cornstarch, bamboo or recycled paper. In the Middle East, a simple shroud is often used.
Some funerals don't take place until many days after the person has passed on. In some cultures, they must bury their dead within 24 hours - this means that bodies don't need to be refrigerated for days on end and makes good hygienic and environmental sense. If you make your funeral arrangements well in advance, it may be possible to shorten the length of time between your passing and interment or cremation.
For the service, you can state that you don't wish for flowers, but request that money that would have been spent on flowers be donated to charity. Perhaps you could also suggest the money be used for offsetting travel to the service through the purchase of green tags or carbon offsets.
As for a resting place, natural burial grounds are now springing up in many countries. These are usually woodlands, forests or reserves. Large monuments aren't permitted to be erected, just simple plaques - you basically blend in with the environment.
Personally, I'm hoping that I can be buried in a shroud on the bush property I dream of buying one day. My final resting place would be marked by a simple plaque that wasn't so much about me, but more about my greatest love - nature. I would like trees planted over me and I would also want the property to be turned into a heritage/nature reserve when my family was done with it. If there is indeed an afterlife, knowing that those wishes have been observed would certainly help me rest in peace.
As in life, we can approach the sensitive issue of our death with green issues close to mind. - but be sure to discuss your wishes with your family and make prior arrangements wherever possible to help minimize the stress on your loved ones after you have passed on.
