Going Out Green Boosted by HBO
The nascent field of “green funerals” scored a publicity coup with last week’s episode of HBO’s “Six Feet Under.”
On the show, the main character Nate Fisher, is buried in the green style, which theorizes that upon death our bodies should be returned to earth in a way that benefits - rather than degrades - the ecosystem.
The environmentally sound practice is rooted in minimalist philosophy: bodies aren’t embalmed, and are encased in a shroud rather than a casket. Burials occur in natural, wood-like settings. Indigenous features are used to mark the resting area instead of a headstone.
“It is a way for people to have their last gesture on Earth be a positive one,” said Mary Woodson, who operates the Greensprings Natural Cemetery Association near Ithaca, N.Y.
Another, less noble reason to go green: it’s less expensive than traditional funerals.
Bob Fells, chief operating officer of the International Cemetery and Funeral Association, said the average cost for a funeral nationwide is $6,500. Add to that the nearly $4,150 it costs to bury a person (based on a two-person plot) at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, for example, and you’re talking well over $10,000.
Woodson, who was approached for consultation by the “Six Feet Under” writers, said a green burial costs less than $900.
Greensprings is just the fifth cemetery in the nation to receive approval for green burials, but has yet to perform a single green service.
Nationwide, the numbers are miniscule.
At Hollywood Forever, the cemetery where Cecil B. DeMille and Jayne Mansfield are buried, green burials are also allowed. That’s only fitting since David, Nate’s brother on “Six Feet Under,” was modeled after Hollywood Forever owner Tyler Cassity.