A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Eva, who is an 89-year-old Cantabridgian absolutely dedicated to environmental consciousness. Eva quickly won me over with her unabashed corrections of other people’s grammatical errors, her incredible breadth of knowledge, her involvement in the community, and her keen sense of humor. Eva is a true scholar- she does her research and always gets her facts straight. And she is not the least bit afraid to set anyone else straight with her wisdom. If you can’t tell, I love her.
Eva was green before anyone knew what that was. She has been leading by example on the subject of environmental consciousness since AT LEAST the early 1970s. Eva wishes to die as she has lived- in an eco-friendly manner that minimizes her impact on this earth. Now Because Eva does not drive (at 89 she takes the bus or walks for miles to get where she needs to go… it is, you guessed it, greener), I have joined her on her quest to ensure her death is as green as possible. I have had the pleasure of driving her to meetings and sites and graveyards in her quest, and been educated by her on Zoom through her Green Burial Massachusetts presentations. (You should check them out, by the way, they are a stellar organization dedicated to educating the public about green options and making them available to you.
www.greenburialma.org).
For a burial to be green, it needs three things:
So, again, a green burial :
According to a recent survey by end-of-life planning agency Cake (I also recommend you check them out, www.joincake.com), most of us prefer a green burial.
So you’d think Massachusetts, given its progressive population and environmental consciousness, would be bursting with green burial options. BUT, you’d be wrong.
You see, to get a green burial, you need cemeteries that allow it. There are three types of cemeteries that permit a green burial.
The greenest type of cemetery permitting green burial is called a conservation burial ground. These types of cemeteries are on easement with a land trust and are dedicated to conservation and restoration of land. We don't yet have this option in Massachusetts.
We also don’t have cemeteries in the second category:
natural burial grounds. Natural burial grounds use no vaults, no embalming, and only biodegradable containers throughout the entire cemetery, and the memorial markers are typically from the land, not a monument dealer.
What we DO have in Massachusetts are
hybrid burial grounds. In a hybrid cemetery, there are conventional gravesites alongside the graves that are vaultless and contain biodegradable containers. (You can learn more about which cemeteries in MA are hybrid by visiting our one-of-a-kind, only-find-it-here, interactive map on our website).
Now, there are lots of ways to “green” your funeral without a full-blown green burial in conservation land. Think of it as a green spectrum, there are options from grey to light green all the way to a deep dark evergreen. If sustainability appeals to you, here are some things you can consider:
Some people wonder if cremation is a good way to green a funeral.
According to National Geographic, one cremation produces an average of 534.6 pounds of carbon dioxide. Given this figure, scientists estimate that cremations in the U.S. account for about 360,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions each year. It is certainly greener to go for natural burial. Having said that, there is always room to green a funeral, even in the event that the deceased has been cremated. At Keefe, we’ve made it our mission to find ways to green your funeral if you so desire.
So, it turns out that the hours spent in the car with Eva- the chatting, the laughing, the backseat driving, the wisdom- coupled with the meetings and scenes we’ve encountered together has finally got me drinking the Kool Aid on going green in death. I am a new convert to green funerals. And I am so pleased to be helping Keefe funeral homes bring these options to Eva and to all of you.
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