Green Burial is the Way to Go

Green Burial is the way to go.

Nancy Chubb came up with that catchy slogan. We were so taken with it; we had it made into a bumper sticker. If you’d like one, just let me know by sending me an email at pete@pennforestcemetery.com.

But why is green burial the way to go?

Embalming is a brutal way to treat a body (See Mark Harris’ book, Grave Matters, Chapter 1 to see why). It deposits about 2 gallons of toxic formaldehyde into each body, which leaks out of the coffin and flows into our watersheds. (I learned last year that measurements taken outside a local cemetery revealed a steady stream of formaldehyde flowing out into the Monongahela River here in Pittsburgh).

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

Green Burial is a Genuine Alternative

Conventional cemeteries have a large energy footprint used to mow lawns, trim shrubs and trees and the fertilizers they use pollute.

Green burial does away with most of these negatives. Coffins are biodegradable. The bodies decompose naturally and fertilize forest plants. No toxic embalming fluids are used. Concrete and steel burial vaults are barred.Cremation uses fissile fuels, pollutes the air and contributes to global warming.

But the real key is forest restoration. Forests provide evaporative cooling to fight global warming. They take pollution from the air. They help preserve threatened plants and animals. And they provide recreation for the public.

In addition to being an environment-friendly practice, the income from green burials can be used to pay for the costs of restoring the cemetery forest, which is what we’re doing at Penn Forest Natural Burial Park. So, yes, green burial is the way to go.  What do you think?

If you’re not yet on our email list, click here: Join My Mailing List and make sure you add my email address (pete@penforestcemetery.com) to your address book, so our emails don’t go to your junk mail folder. If you are on the list, please forward our newsletters and emails to everyone you know and ask them to join too.

Thanks for your help.

Pete

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Funeral Directors Embrace Green Burial

Why some funeral directors are starting to embrace green burial

Today, the Cremation Association of North America announced that they are projecting that in 2010 more than 40% of deaths in North America will result in cremation. That’s up from 38% in 2008. In our area (Middle Atlantic) the percentage will be 36% in 2010, which is up from 34% in 2009. For families that represents a big savings over conventional cemetery burial. But for funeral homes it represents a big loss in income.

Primarily for this reason, many funeral homes are failing financially. Others are just getting by with their funeral directors foregoing maintenance and repairs of their facilities and taking on second jobs to pay their bills.

However, there is now a group of funeral directors who see green burial as a niche opportunity that they can go after to keep their businesses in the black and provide a needed new service to families. Actually, at least in our area, they see three niches:

  • First, recent surveys of green cemeteries have revealed that about 80% of families who chose green burial for a family member were originally going to opt for cremation, but they changed their minds when they learned about green burial—a more environment-friendly choice. Because of this, green oriented funeral homes are now making sure their cremation families are aware of green burial as an option. Often they weren’t aware of this choice, and decide it’s what they want for their loved one, even if it costs a bit more than cremation.
  • Second, because there are only a few green cemeteries, some people who want a green burial must find a cemetery a considerable distance from their homes. Penn Forest Natural Burial Park, for example, located in Pittsburgh, serves nearly all of Pennsylvania and is the closest green cemetery for large parts of Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Delaware. Hence, we will be having many burials that would not normally come to our area. Nearly all of those families will need a local Pittsburgh funeral home, and that is business that they would not get if Penn Forest wasn’t here and they weren’t certified by the Green Burial Council.
  • Finally, many families who elect green burial also want a home funeral. For this reason, several local funeral homes have decided to help families with this option too. Again, that’s business they wouldn’t get without green burial.

So we are finding that a small group of visionary funeral directors in our area have figured out that green burial can be a source of new business and not a threat to their existing business, and they have been eager to form relationships with us. So, we have compiled a list of these area funeral homes and we make it available to all our customers.

So I ask you, are these funeral directors on to something? Is green burial the wave of the future for the funeral home business?

Pete

 

If you’re not yet on our email list, click here: Join My Mailing List and make sure you add my email address (pete@penforestcemetery.com) to your address book, so our emails don’t go to your junk mail folder. If you are on the list, please forward our newsletters and emails to everyone you know and ask them to join too.

 

 

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