Anyone who has lost someone through sickness or an accident will know how confusing the weeks following this can be. People may have not talked about how they wanted their funeral to be performed, or voiced an opinion of what should happen at the end. However, with a green burial, everyone will be happy to see what happens. Being laid to rest in a green cemetery means that we will go back to the earth and give up out body to it.
It is the coming thing that people are trying not to add any more pollution to the planet than is already there. Even a simple funeral will produce a lot of waste that no one would ever suspect. Metal coffins, meant to preserve the body, will in fact eventually poison the earth because they do not decompose. Even hardwood coffins do not break down so easily and eventually we will have to find another way to cope with the bodies.
There are those who advocate having a piece of land put aside to lay people to rest, but not in the usual way that has gone on for years. What they believe is that we are all supposed to give back our bodies, when we no longer need them, to help replenish the earth and support the trees that grow there.
This may sound a little hippy like but taking into consideration the way that we dispose of the dead, it could be the only way which will be acceptable in future. Even cremations send out clouds of toxic smoke into the atmosphere which is obviously bad. When a body is put in the ground, it has usually been embalmed and this means that the body is full of chemicals to preserve it. This chemical is not good for the earth, and will also give off toxic fumes when heated during cremation.
There is just one cemetery in the United States that follows all the rules when it comes to having a chemical free and environmentally friendly laying to rest. In a protected forest of over thirteen hundred acres, a site has been put aside for those who want to give themselves back to the earth in beautiful and tranquile surroundings.
Graves are large, about twenty by twenty feet, and lined with different kinds of herbs. When the body is put in it can either be in a coffin that deteriorates quickly or even just wrapped in a shroud that used to be used in the past. This means that as soon as the body starts to break down, it will be absorbed by the earth which in turn feeds the trees and the earth.
Many people may be a little wary of suggesting this type of funeral to anyone who is coming to the end of their life. However, those who feel that they want to give themselves to the earth in this way should let their next of kin know about this before death. This makes a trying time so much easier for all concerned and the person will have made their final and most important decision without their input. Surely, this must be a good idea in a world where it is struggling under the burden of over population.
Tags: green burial, green cemetery
