Thoughts on Natural Burial

The Natural Burial Company sells biodegradable coffins and urns as a way to help environmentally-conscious folks make a green choice regarding body disposal.They also work with funeral directors and cemetery managers to help them convert to natural funeral and operations techniques.

This company found my post and left a comment. However, comments usually get "buried" (pun intended, of course) and are not visible to visitors unless someone clicks on the comment feature underneath (another pun!) the original post. Since this comment is informative and helpful, I'm using it as a post. And, yes I have had my mercury fillings replaced.

From Natural Burial Company:

You don't need to be embalmed when you die. And, actually, you can still be buried in a coffin--you could just make it something handmade, celebrating an artist and keeping an art alive, rather than making it a product out of stamped steel or rainforest hardwood and padded with poly-foam stuffing.

RE: your pyre. A group in Colorado have been lobbying to do just that.
http://crestoneendoflifeproject.org/

With respect to emissions, I've got to agree with you - it's a bit of smoke but probably not as much as your average big-brush burn pile. (Just be sure you get your mercury fillings replaced well before the date!) Certainly planting a few trees will more than make up for the footprint, if it's the thing you want most!

I think the important thing in this movement is to recognize that many of us desire a more natural end. We're not all offended by the same things. What's dignified to some is not to others (embalming, for example); what's respectful to some is not respectful to others.

We only have one death (that we know of). It's the end of the only life we'll ever know until we explore the other side of the mystery. It seems a small thing to insist that we ought to have the death we want (a natural one...) followed by the disposition we want - again, environmentally benign and expressing some of what we value in our lives.

For me, and for lots of others, that value seems to be held well by a tree!

In trees,

Cynthia Beal
Natural Burial Company
http://www.naturalburialcompany.com
http://www.beatree.com

Biodegradable coffins and urns --- if it's the last thing you do...
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For more information about body disposal, you might enjoy reading More Than Meets the Eye True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife. Purchase on Amazon.com