Green Funerals
What to ensure that every aspect of your life (and death) is as environmentally and creation-honoring as possible? Have a family member or friend commited to eco-justice who has passed away recently passed away? Make sure you honor their memory with a "green funeral".
The typical burial in the United States costs between $6,000-$10,000 and uses toxic chemicals like formaldehyde for embalming which can seep into ground water. Steel caskets and concrete vaults, which are normally used, are non-biodegradable. Conventional funerals and burials serve to memorialize our loved ones, but in the process, precious resources and precious land are being used up. The good news is that there alternatives. Read below to find out how funerals can honor the deceased, honor God, and honor God's Creation, all at the same time!
Funeral Facts
Each year in the U.S., we bury:
- 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid, which includes formaldehyde
- 180,544,000 pounds of steel, in caskets
- 5,400,000 pounds of copper and bronze, in caskets
- 30 million board feet of hardwoods, including tropical woods, in caskets
- 3,272,000,000 pounds of reinforced concrete in vaults
- 28,000,000 pounds of steel in vaults
Statistics compiled by Mary Woodsen, vice president of the Pre-Posthumous Society of Ithaca, New York, and a freelance science writer and staff science writer at Cornell University.
Aspects of a Green Funeral
Embalming
Clothing
Coffins
Tombstones
Cremations
Funeral Processions
Green Cemetaries
Flowers
Links to Articles
Green Funerals: Putting Aside Embalming and Tombs
USA Today: Moving on From Life, Naturally
Green Funerals Make for Eco-Exits
More
Click here to view information on greening your wedding
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