October 10, 2007

Eco-cemetery
An eco-cemetery, also known as a green burial ground or a natural burial preserve, is a cemetery where the body is returned to the earth to decompose and recycle naturally. It’s an environmentally sustainable alternative to existing funeral practices.

• BURIAL

The body is prepared without chemical preservatives, such as those used in embalming, and is buried in a biodegradable casket or simple shroud.

A natural burial preserve often uses grave markers that don’t intrude on the landscape. These natural markers can include shrubs and trees, or a flat indigenous stone that may be engraved. The burial ground may be designed with centralized memorial structures where visitors can sit within an emerging forest. As in all cemeteries, there are careful records kept of the exact location of each interment, often using modern survey techniques such as GIS.

Planting native trees, shrubs and flowers on or near the grave establishes a living memorial and helps form a protected wildlife preserve. Irrigation is not used, nor are pesticides or herbicides applied; instead, a natural burial preserves, protects and restores nature.

Cemetery legislation protects natural burial preserves in perpetuity from future development. The establishment of a conservation easement prevents future owners from altering the original intent for these burial grounds. These protective covenants are what permit natural burial preserves to function as landscape-level conservation tools.

– Source: Reference.com

Environmental issues with conventional burial
Each year, 22,500 cemeteries across the United States bury approximately:

• 30 million board feet (70,000 m3) of hardwoods (caskets)

• 90,272 tons of steel (caskets)

• 14,000 tons of steel (vaults)

• 2,700 tons of copper and bronze (caskets)

• 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete (vaults)

• 827,060 US gallons (3,130 m3) of embalming fluid, which most commonly includes formaldehyde. It is worth noting, however, that embalming fluid changes chemically in the act of preserving the body and is not largely present as a fluid. This figure refers to embalming fluid before it is introduced into the body.

(Compiled from statistics by Casket and Funeral Association of America, Cremation Association of North America, Doric Inc., The Rainforest Action Network, and Mary Woodsen, Pre-Posthumous Society)