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Portion of this yew Is a man my grandsire knew Green Bosomed here at its foot: This branch may be his wife, A ruddy human life Burials Now turned to a green shoot. These grasses must be made Of her who often prayed, & Home Last century, for repose; And the fair girl long ago Whom I often tried to know Funerals May be entering this rose So, they are not underground, But as nerves and vein abound Here’s how to ensure your In the growths of upper air, And they feel the sun and rain, final resting place is earth And the energy again friendly and priced right That made them what they are. —Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) By Nancy Smith

“ A typical, no-frills and burial in the other hand, can cost half as much, and Dead, which tackles the topic of funeral law the United States costs from $6,000 to , metal caskets and concrete bur- state by state. She reports neither embalm- $10,000, and uses formaldehyde in em- ial vaults are prohibited. Instead, biodegrad- ing, expensive caskets nor concrete vaults balming, and non-degradable steel caskets able caskets, usually made of wood or are required by law in any state. Bodies can and concrete vaults placed shoulder to cardboard, or burial shrouds of natural fibers be kept cool until burial rather than being shoulder in burial plots in cemeteries that are used. Green cemetery graves are embalmed, and cemeteries require vaults are often visually boring. marked only in natural ways, with the plant- only to facilitate grass mowing. Burial in a green or natural cemetery, on ing of a tree or shrub, or the placement of a According to Carlson, the leaders in the flat indigenous stone, which may or emerging green cemetery field in this coun- may not be engraved. Burial loca- try are Dr. Billy and Kimberley Campbell of tions are mapped with a GIS (geo- Memorial Ecosystems, founded in 1996 in graphic information system), so Westminster, South Carolina. Their idea is to future generations can locate an an- use green cemeteries to preserve open cestor’s final resting place. space. You can be buried at the Campbells’ There are more than 200 green first green cemetery, Ramsey Creek cemeteries in Great Britain, and the Preserve, in Westminster, and visitors can idea is beginning to catch on here in walk on trails through 32 acres of mixed North America. Lisa Carlson is exec- woodlands and open fields there. utive director of the Funeral In Florida, a green cemetery called Consumers Alliance in Hinesburg, Glenwood Memorial Preserve is being es- Vermont, and author of Caring for the tablished to save a 320-acre family farm from development. And groups in several The headstone, left, is on the first other states, including Colorado, California, grave at Ramsey Creek Preserve, New York, Washington and Wisconsin, have Westminster, South Carolina. efforts under way to establish green ceme-

MARY WOODSEN teries that center on land preservation. In

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Canada, the Memorial Society of British Columbia also has a formally funded circumstances such as extended time green-burial initiative under way. Remember between death and disposition can The first burial at Ramsey Creek oc- make it necessary under state law. If you use a conventional funeral curred in the fall of 1998, and to date, 17 home and cemetery, be aware that Interstate transportation by a common more have taken place. Another 50 persons embalming, expensive caskets and carrier also may necessitate embalm- have purchased sites. A green casket burial concrete vaults generally are NOT ing, although most airlines will waive there costs about $2,500. Burial of cremated required by law. Cemeteries may estab- that requirement if there are religious remains is only $500; scattering of cremated lish such requirements, but they also objections. remains is $250. Stone grave markers and may waive them, or change the rules if engraving are optional; the stones are $25; they choose. So, if you want a simpler Burial permits: In some states, when engraving averages between $125 and $300. burial, ask around. You may find a burial will be outside the county or town funeral home and cemetery that will Caskets are not included. (For instructions where death occurred, you will need an accommodate your preferences. on building your own casket, see Page XX.) additional permit to inter (whether on If you are thinking about handling a Dr. Campbell says people seem to want funeral yourself, you should know that private land or in a cemetery) from the to be buried there because of the site’s nat- most states local registrar in that area. The statutes ural beauty, the lower cost and the land clearly allow and regulations of some states include preservation effort. Bodies usually arrive for families to a depth requirement; standard practice burial at Ramsey Creek via a local, inde- care for their in many states places the top of the pendent funeral home, whose owner has own dead, coffin at least three feet below the nat- agreed to hold them under refrigeration un- according to ural surface of the earth. A burial loca- til delivery to the Preserve. The nature of Lisa Carlson, tion should be 150 feet or more from a author of any graveside ceremony is determined by water supply and outside the easement Caring for the the families. “Whatever spiritual bent you for any utility or power lines. Dead; Your bring to the Preserve, our natural landscape Final A ct of is very healing,” Kimberley Campbell says. Love . In a few Moving a body: Never move a body “What we do is very simple, but there is states the without a permit (or medical permis- something very, very special about the sim- statues or reg- sion)! Most states require a permit for plicity of it.” ulations are transportation Sherrill Hughes buried her husband, unclear or negative in this regard; these or disposition. Roland, in 2001 at Ramsey Creek. She says states are: Colorado, Connecticut, A death certifi- she knows without a doubt that was what Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, cate must usu- Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, he would have wanted. His body was ally be com- New Hampshire, New Jersey and New placed in a simple pine box – a preference pleted first, and York; for more details see Caring for he had expressed — and buried under a the Dead, or contact Carlson at often a special dogwood tree; her gravesite is right next to www.funerals.org. If you don’t hire a permit-to-cre- his, and she says her children all want to be , here are some things mate is needed buried there, too. “Roland’s funeral was so you should know: prior to crema- personal. In most funerals there’s no emo- tion. Always tion, but at Ramsey Creek, you can do what Death Certificates: A call ahead you want to do.” She played his favorite signed by a doctor stating the cause of before moving a body, even if you have songs — Dolly Parton’s “I’ll always love death must be filed, usually in the coun- a permit. By calling first, you will be you” and George Jones’ “He stopped loving ty or district where death occurs, or expected at the destination and proper her today” — and placed the first spade-full where a body is found, or where a body arrangements will have been made to of dirt in his grave. Following her lead, their is removed from a public conveyance handle the body. children shoveled too, “and before we or vehicle. States vary in the time knew it, the boys – my two sons-in-law and required for filing the death certificate : A special permit-to- nephew – had nearly finished filling in the with the local registrar, but this must cremate may be needed; these are grave.” usually be accomplished before other available from the local coroner or med- Mrs. Hughes, who lives in Atlanta, says permits are granted or before final dis- ical examiner, and a modest fee is usu- she wouldn’t describe herself or her hus- position. ally charged. If the deceased did not band as environmentalists. Rather, they al- sign a cremation authorization on the ways just tried to take care of what God had Embalming: No state requires routine right forms prior to death, next-of-kin given them, “and that included the earth.” embalming of all bodies. Refrigeration will be required to give the authoriza- She plans to move to the Westminster area or dry ice can take the place of tion at most crematories. soon, where most of her family already embalming in most instances. Special lives, and she’ll build her own casket and

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Do ItYourself Each year in the help out as a volunteer at the Preserve. some of the gravesites to take advantage of Dr. Campbell says folks buried at the the disturbed soil. Several uncommon na- Preserve so far fit a range of descriptions, tive plants also have been found to date, in- U.S., we bury: and the majority are not environmentalists cluding the tripartite violet and the crested • 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid, —which is exciting to him. Going through coral root. which includes formaldehyde a green burial process helps people get be- A visitor’s center, staffed by Kimberley’s • 180,544,000 pounds of steel, in caskets yond the “nature as wallpaper” mentality, parents, sits near the entrance, and an old he explains. The only doctor of medicine in chapel has been moved onto the grounds to • 5,400,000 pounds of copper and Westminster, he has a long-time interest in be restored for use by people of all faiths. bronze, in caskets the environment (in 1986, he helped found Life histories of those buried at the site will • 30 million board feet of hardwoods, the South Carolina Forest Watch, a group be archived there. including tropical woods, in caskets that monitors the well being of the state’s The Campbells also have provided as- • 3,272,000,000 pounds of reinforced forests) and he has been dealing with death sistance to others interested in following concrete in vaults since his medical school days; his wife their example, and Billy Campbell says he is • 28,000,000 pounds of steel in vaults thinks it’s a reassuring combination to their willing to work with any entity with large Statistics compiled by Mary Woodsen, vice presi- patrons. She also says Atlanta’s suburban land holdings that might want to set up a dent of the Pre-Posthumous Society of Ithaca, sprawl is fast encroaching on their area, so similar preserve — complete with ethnical New York, and a freelance science writer and staff they feel a sense of urgency. oversights in both financial and environ- science writer at Cornell University. Dr. Campbell notes, “My idea is we need mental areas. “We’re building a socially re- to link land conservation with ritual and sponsible for-profit business,” he says of a mobile home park.” The entire 350-acre with people in a very fundamental way. Memorial Ecosystems. farm, where the elder Wilkerson grew When the economy is not quite what it Of the other green burial initiatives un- peanuts, corn and soybeans and his sons should be, money is a problem (for groups der way in the United States, the closest to now grow chufa, a specialty wildlife seed dedicated to land preservation), but if being operational is the Glendale Memorial crop, will be incorporated into the preserve. Mamma and Grandmamma are buried some Nature Preserve near Glendale, Florida. It is In addition to providing grave sites, the place, you might look at it differently.” owned by brothers John and Bill Wilkerson, Wilkersons make simple coffins from native Establishing the Ramsey Creek Preserve and now can accept burials but not yet woods, using an on-farm sawmill, and have seemed simple, but it proved a daunting legally charge for them. John Wilkerson, the gathered a selection of flat indigenous task, according to Kimberley Campbell. For family’s spokesman, says that’s because he stones, which a local stonemason has one thing, the state cemetery board was leg- and his brother still are negotiating with the agreed to engrave. islatively disbanded in 1992, and as a con- state of Florida over a $50,000 nonrefund- John says he and Bill handled their own sequence, determining which authorities to able cemetery application fee, plus other parents’ burials, including making the contact about the project proved a chal- fees. In the interim, in lieu of a formal bur- coffins – pine for Dad; poplar for Mom – lenge. ial fee, donations were being accepted; as of and digging the graves. Their father died in To help build the site’s status as a nature early 2003, no burials had taken place. 1996 and their mother, who wanted her fu- preserve, an inventory of plants has been The Glendale preserve was established, neral and burial to be a simple affair “and taken and continues to be updated, and Dr. John Wilkerson reports, because he and his never missed a chance to remind us of that,” Campbell says a “site appropriate” native brother took their late father seriously when died in 2000. The couple is buried in a little plant, the smooth-leafed coneflower he said, “Boys, this is a beautiful piece of church cemetery that lies adjacent to the (Echinacea laevigata), is being planted on property. It would be a shame to turn it into farm, on land donated earlier by the father to the church. Digging those graves was “a very powerful thing to do,” John says. “It really facilitated the grieving process.” Dr. Campbell, who is on the Glendale Preserve’s board of directors but not in- volved financially in the project, has at- Special Website tended meetings between the Wilkersons and Florida state officials to help explain the memorial preserve idea. He says he forum with experts thinks the $50,000 cemetery application A featured forum on green burials and fee is “oppressive” and notes an Ohio home funerals will be offered in April, May group also trying to establish a memorial and June on the Mother Earth News Web site preserve is dealing with a similar situation. COURTESY: THE CAMPBELLS (www.motherearthnews.com/xxxxxxx). Guest Such fees are designed to help ensure experts Lisa Carlson, Dr. Billy and Kimberley Dr. Billy and Kimberley Campbell are “perpetual care” for gravesites in a new founders of Memorial Ecosystems in Campbell, John Wilkerson, Mary Woodsen cemetery, according to Carlson, but in the South Carolina. and Jerri Lyons will answer your questions. case of a green cemetery, traditional main-

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tenance practices such as large-scale lawn mowing do not occur. The rules at both Ramsey Creek and Glendale are simple: No embalming, no casket unless it is biodegradable, no vault and no stone that can be pushed over. Kimberley Campbell notes they advocate as the best choice and cre- mation as the second best because crema- tion uses energy and releases toxins into the environment. She adds natural burial really isn’t a new idea, “It’s thousands of years old, and the reason is, it a very nat- ural, effective way to dispose of a loved one’s remains.” And wouldn’t it be wonderful to visit a loved one’s gravesite located along a beau- tiful prairie trail, in a towering New England forest or other quiet place of ex-

traordinary natural beauty? d COURTESYY JERRI LYONS

Family and friends of Mari, age 45, who died of breast cancer, decorate her casket. For more information Home Funerals Your mother is dying. You want to she adds. “The generation that de- Funeral Consumers Alliance, Lisa care for her yourself, at home, when manded natural childbirth in the ’60s Carlson, P.O. Box 10, Hinesburg, VT death finally arrives rather than hiring and ’70s and recycling in the ’90s is 05461; (800) 765-0107; a mortuary. She feels the same. wanting green burials, including do-it- www.funerals.org. Together, while there is still time, you yourselfers, now.” Final Passages, Jerri Lyons P.O. decide to plan her service and burial. Lyons is director of Final Box 1721, Sebastopol, CA 95473; How do you begin? Passages, a seven-year-old not-for- (707) 824-0268; Three books can help. They are profit organization in Sebastopol, www.finalpassages.org. Caring for the Dead, Your final Act of California, and a “.” Her Memorial Ecosystems, Inc., and Love, by Lisa Carlson; Guidebook for goal with Final Passages is “to re-in- Ramsey Creek Preserve: Dr. Billy and Creating Home Funerals by Jerri troduce the concept of funerals in the Kimberley Campbell, 113 Retreat St., Lyons; and Dealing Creatively with home as a part of family life and as a Westminster, SC 29693; (864) 647- Death, A Manual of Death Education way to de-institutionalize death.” 7798; Fax (864) 647-7796; Website: and Simple Burial by Ernest Morgan. Through this non-profit project, she www.memorialecosystems.com Carlson, executive director of the provides information and education, Glendale Memorial Nature non-profit Funeral Consumers and through her own for-profit compa- Preserve: John and Bill Wilkerson, Alliance in Hinsburg, Vermont, has be- ny, Home and Family Funerals, she of- 297 Railroad Avenue, DeFuniak come a national spokesperson for the fers her death midwife services. She Springs, FL 32433; (850) 859-2141; “do-it-yourself” funeral movement in knows of several other death mid- www.glendalenaturepreserve.org the last few years, and she says such wives in California and one in The North American Woodland burials, especially on private land, ap- Maryland; others may be working qui- Burial Society, an information pear to be on the rise. “There’s no etly on their own in other areas. exchange: easy way to track it, but there seems Lyons has personally helped more http://woodlandburial.htmlplanet.com to be an ongoing interest in family than 200 California families handle In Canada, the Memorial Society of burial. It’s being done quietly, but the their own funerals, and she has coun- British Columbia, 212-1847 West number of inquiries on this topic at seled many more across the country Broadway, Vancouver, British the Funeral Consumers Alliance is via the telephone. She says she be- Columbia V6J 1Y6; (604) 733-7705; definitely increasing.” lieves the widespread practice of hav- www.memorialsocietybc.org The trend is totally predictable, ing the deceased person’s body

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lead to unpleasant situa- tions and create a climate in which professionals be- come less willing to work with families.” In her book, she ex- plains the precision needed in filling out a death certifi- cate, required by every state, and she reports situa- tions where special death certificates are required, in- cluding fetal deaths and those that require an autop- sy. She notes that special circumstances, such as an extended time between death and disposition, may make embalming neces- sary, but refrigeration or dry ice can take the place of Mildred, age 86, wanted a home funeral, just like her folks back in Iowa, so her children obliged. embalming in many in- Mildred’s decorated casket rode to the crematory in the family’s camper van. stances. She also warns readers to “never move a whisked away at the time of death was not embalmed; the casket was body without a permit or medical by funeral home personnel inter- cardboard and no vault was used; permission.” rupts the normal grieving process the dirt was simply mounded up on Home burials require an exami- and destroys the coherence families the grave, rather than being leveled nation of local zoning ordinances, can achieve on their own. When the as it is over a vault. according to Carlson, “and for those family handles its own funerals, they Lyons predicts green and home with land in rural or semi-rural areas, gain “better closure, a sense of em- burials will increase if information powerment and substantial econom- about them becomes more ic savings.” widely available. “Most people in Lyons’ guidebook includes step- this country don’t know they by-step instructions for such things have the legal right to care for as washing and dressing the body their own loved ones when they to “lie in honor,” and handling trans- die,” she says. portation of the body home and/or The organization’s Web site to the place of disposition, which is includes interviews with people either cremation or burial. The book who have planned their own fu- also includes specific information on nerals and photographs of buri- government paperwork required for als, along with åresource home funerals in California. information. Through Final Passages, Lyons Carlson caution persons who presents periodic workshops about choose to handle death privately funeral options and about becoming to “take great care to follow all death guides or death midwives like state and local regulations. The herself. requirements are not complex, Most of the families Lyons has but failure to meet them can helped used cremation for disposi- tion of the body. She also has partic- Death midwife Jerri Lyons sits ipated in one “earth friendly” or with Jasmine during Jasmine’s green burial, in the Sebastopol three-day wake, held in a Memorial Lawn Cemetery, an older,

friend’s home overlooking (2) JERRI LYONS COURTESY, privately owned facility. The body the Pacific Ocean.

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