Image via Forever Fernwood

Throughout our lives, we contribute a huge amount of unnatural chemicals and pharmaceuticals into our environment, and it doesn’t stop when we die. The embalming process adds all sorts of carcinogenic chemicals to our bodies with embalming, not to mention the chemicals used to create and preserve the casket (check out the numbers on this page).

Once upon a time our deaths were totally natural. When we died, we went right back where we came and nothing stood in the way of that process. As civilization matured, we started to honor our dead in different cultural ways. Native Americans put their dead on wooden platforms. Ancient Egyptians mummified their dead and many bodies were mummified naturally in the dry dessert air. Vikings made small boats to send off in flames. Bringing us up to date in the modern age, many cultures around the world use headstones and bury our dead in caskets or cement vaults.

These days green funerals are getting more attention.

With biodegradable caskets and shrouds, no embalming, and often a tree planted in the honor of the deceased instead of a headstone, green funerals are gaining traction as an environmentally sound option. The best part is besides being morally satisfying, they’re cheaper than traditional funerals! With less preparation and chemicals required and the less extravagant caskets, it takes far less money to have a green funeral.

Many of the sites are also ecological and some are even organic, and they take pride in how naturally beautiful and serene the surrounding area is.

There are more and more of these sites popping up as the demand increases, such as Fernwood and GreenSprings, and it’s not hard to find online resources for green burials, like The Centre for Natural Burials and the Eco-Friendly page on Funeral.org.

If you’re interested in a green funeral make sure your loved ones know and update any will you might have, I know I will.