Happy Snow Moon, Butterflies.
A fellow classmate reached out to me recently to discuss green burials. This classmate works for a venture capital fund focused on aging and end of life experiences and thought I might have some views.
At first I thought, What can I say about green burials that would be additive to the conversation? How do I ground my own perspective on green burials in the cold, hard truth about death in America?
But then I recalled the survey I posted to social media about death values and end-of-life preferences that many of you contributed to. It’s what prompted me to start MOLT. Between the survey and myriad conversations and internet rabbit holes I’ve fallen into, I actually have a lot to share on this subject.
So that’s what this issue is about - natural burials, green burials, or just… burials.
As always, I welcome your thoughts. Leave a comment or send me a note at molt.ashlyn.anderson@gmail.com.
Love, AAA
What do you mean, green?
According to the Green Burial Council’s Glossary of Green Burial Terms, a green burial is:
“a way of caring for the dead with minimal environmental impact that aids in the conservation of natural resources, reduction of carbon emissions, protection of worker health, and the restoration and/or preservation of habitat. Green burial necessitates the use of non-toxic and biodegradable materials, such as caskets, shrouds, and urns.”
You can find a listing of certified green cemeteries in the U.S. here.
I first encountered green burials in the HBO show Six Feet Under, which came out around the time the modern Green Burial movement was taking off. Since then, the green burial possibilities have multiplied. Here are a few, followed by an accompanying doodle for the fun of it:
Conservation burials - There are green cemeteries and then there are conservation cemeteries, partnerships between cemetery owners and land conservation organizations that incorporate conservation principles into burial plans and guarantee perpetual protection of the land.
Human composting - It may sound strange, but isn’t this the point of burial? Seattle-based company Recompose developed a 5-phase process to transform human remains into soil in 30 days.
Mushroom burial suits - Developed by an artist and introduced in a 2011 TED Talk, the Coeio Infinity Suit claims to help not just with decomposition but also with the neutralization of environmental toxins in human bodies. 90210 star Luke Perry was buried in one of these in 2019.
Tree pods - And then there is Capsula Mundi, which came up with an egg-shaped burial pod to be buried like a seed beneath a tree.
The case for natural burials
Natural burials are entirely natural.
When someone refers to a “traditional” burial, we might think of embalmed bodies positioned in a sleeping posture inside an ornate casket adorned with flowers. My memories of open casket viewings are vivid - the stillness of a breathless being and the waxiness of an embalmed body. My great aunt always says that, for her, seeing deceased loved ones intact and visibly at peace is critical to her grieving process. The careful work of a mortician to reconstruct a person’s likeness, particularly after violent or physically altering deaths, can also be deeply healing for loved ones.
For these reasons and more, humans have been practicing some form of embalming for thousands of years going all the way back to ancient Egyptian mummification.
By and large, though, embalming was only recently popularized among the masses. In the U.S., embalming picked up steam during the Civil War due to the very practical need to preserve the bodies of dead soldiers for the journey from the battlefield to their loved ones. Before that, natural burials were the norm—and some cultures maintained natural burial practices even as embalming became common. In Jewish and Muslim communities, neither cremation nor embalming are practiced and the bodies of loved ones are buried naturally within 24 hours. And Indigenous people have long been practicing green burials… well before the “emergence” of the Green Burial movement in the 1990s.
Natural burials can be healing.
I watched a short documentary about Steelmantown Cemetery (video below), “a true resting place with nature” according to their website and one of the first green cemeteries to be certified by the Green Burial Council in the U.S. The green burial experience is described as cathartic and healing and tends to be a more participatory experience that connects a person’s death with the life of the natural world around it.
Natural burials are better for the environment.
Green burials have a smaller environmental footprint and, when complemented with broader conservation principles, can contribute to environmental restoration. Commercial caskets take a long time to break down and are often coated in chemical-based paints. We’re talking a million pounds of metal, wood, and concrete into the earth each year. And it goes without saying that embalmed bodies take a long time to decompose—and when they do, they release toxic chemicals into the soil and nearby waterways. Formaldehyde is also a known carcinogen and embalmers can experience a higher risk of cancer if exposure is not carefully managed.
Cremation is now the most popular end-of-life option in the U.S., but some people are beginning to opt for green burials over cremation or traditional burials for environmental reasons. Cremation contributes millions of tons of CO2 each year—the average cremation releases about two gas tanks worth of emissions.
Green burials are more affordable.
Burials are expensive—another reason why cremation has become increasingly popular. But green burials are typically much more affordable than traditional ones. Natural burials are about $2,000-3,000 on average, compared to traditional burials that run upwards of $7,000-10,000.
An existential tune for the full moon
An Overview on Phenomenal Nature is a new album by Cassandra Jenkins that totally captivated me this week. She wrote the album in a matter of weeks and the songs tell the story of her grief after losing her friend by suicide. It’s profound. Please enjoy.