GREEN BURIAL??????

Have you every heard of a Green Burial? I never did. Then I saw a TV episode about it on Harry’s Law. I thought what the heck? So I did some research and here is what I found:

“Simple and natural. Green burial, or natural burial, ensure the burial site remains as natural as possible in all respects.  Interment of the body is done in a bio-degradable casket, shroud, or a favorite blanket. No embalming fluid, no concrete vaults.”

Now, don’t go thinking that I am a tree-hugger, but this “seems” to make sense.

Some interesting facts:

Each year, 22,500 cemeteries across the United States bury approximately:

30 million board feet of hardwood used for caskets

90,272 tons of steel for caskets

14,000 tons of steel for vaults

2,700 tons of copper and bronze for caskets

1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete for vaults

827,060 gallons of embalming fluid, which most commonly includes formaldehyde

Also, what about all the land used by the cemeteries?

After you pass away, your children will come on occasion to your gravesite and possibly your grandchildren. But what happens after these two generations? Who visits? Who maintains the site?

I see stories on the news about very old cemeteries being vandalized by (now I am assuming here) young people who are bored and being mischievous. Since we are caring human beings we are disturbed by the desecration, now my question, who pays to repair the vandalization?

Right now I’m really leaning toward a green burial (for me) but now the difficult part, how do I convince my family that this is something I would like to do?

And so the journey begins...