Natural as a Land Conservation Tool

Chris Coutts

Paper co-authors: Carlton Basmajian, Joe Sehee, Sarah Kelty, & Patrice Williams Outline

• Problem • Unsustainable conventional land use and practices • Alternatives • • 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 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 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

• 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]