Natural Burial As a Land Conservation Tool

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Natural Burial as a Land Conservation Tool Chris Coutts Paper co-authors: Carlton Basmajian, Joe Sehee, Sarah Kelty, & Patrice Williams Outline • Problem • Unsustainable conventional cemetery land use and practices • Alternatives • Cremation • Natural burial (NB) • Current state of NB in the US • Case of NB practice • Glendale Memorial Preserve Problem • Annually, in the US, we bury approximately… • 20 million board feet of hardwood caskets Problem • 64,500 tons of steel Problem • 1.6 million tons of concrete Problem • 4.3 million gallons of embalming fluid Problem • A typical 10 acre cemetery contains… • Wood for 40 homes • 1,000 tons of steel • 20,000 tons of vault concrete • Enough toxic embalming fluid to fill a typical backyard swimming pool Alternative: Cremation • From 2000-2015, the proportion of Americans choosing cremation nearly doubled to 48.6% • Cons • Use of fuels to incinerate • Emissions release • Single-use of land dedicated to disposition Natural Burial • Unembalmed body • Biodegradable casket or shroud • No concrete vault • Natural grave markers • Also…a vehicle for land conservation and restoration? NB Demand • 81.5% : Knowing what they know now about NB, they would open a new green cemetery now if given the opportunity • 72.4% : The demand for NB has increased since they began offering this option Types of Natural Burial Cemeteries • Compiled database of all NB sites in the US • GBC three categories of burial grounds • Hybrid • Natural burial grounds • Conservation burial grounds Hybrid Model • Hybrid sites comprise 99 of the 162 NB sites in the US (61%) • Most common type of NB site Natural Burial Ground Model • 54 natural burial ground sites (33%) • Second most common form of NB site Conservation Burial Ground Model • 10 conservation burial ground sites (6%) • Greatest potential as a large-scale land conservation tool Other Data in Paper • Current inventory of NB ground type and location in US • Laws governing natural burial Takeaway for Practice • Market for NB is growing • Use NB to conserve greenspace • Allow NB as a conditional use • Encourage NB through zoning • Create multifunctional greenspace through NB Questions • Chris Coutts • [email protected].

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