Green Funeral Exhibition
The Mummy’s Bracelet (Blog)
The Natural Death Centre held a Green Funeral Exhibition yesterday, as a theme for their annual UK Day of the Dead events. I didn’t anticipate any jewellery-related exhibits or talks that might directly relate to my PhD research, but it’s always interesting to go to events organised by different groups with an interest in death and bereavement, whether mainstream or fringe…. gives a wider perspective of the whole context, and the variety of people at different events is fascinating.
The range of exhibits by different manufacturers of ‘eco-coffins’ included coffins made from bamboo, willow and cardboard. The ‘green’ issues with many standard funerary products are largely concerned with the environmental effects of present burial and cremation practices in the UK, whether in the release of toxic airborne emissions from cremating conventional MDF coffins, or the impact on the earth of the non-biodegradability of many coffins following burial.
There are loads more issues which came up during a panel discussion by experts ranging from academia to the funeral profession. All very thought provoking, and I’m not just saying that because my PhD supervisor was one of the speakers (Tony Walter, my ’sociology of death’ supervisor, as opposed to Caroline Evans, my ‘fashion theory’ one!).
I like the different attitudes to the products… from the enthusiasm from those passionate about environmentally-friendly ways of death, such as for this willow coffin (above), to a comment from a traditional undertaker a few years back about the same coffin, who said many families thought it would be like being buried in a laundry basket.
I left before the candle lighting memorial ceremony at the end, as it sounded a bit too communal-touchy-feely for my tastes, but I came away with loads of info and ideas for my autumn term’s teaching schedule, and possibly a post-doctoral project, as well as several offers to do talks for my students.
The little sample I got of a cross-section of a cardboard coffin will be useful, to show any doubting students how it is made, and the potential strength of the material… it’s not just a giant shoe box, you know! Though it’s probably not hefty enough for the increasingly morbidly obese UK population, who are now requiring specially large coffins and crematoria redesigns. Can’t imagine people into green issues being morbidly obese somehow… if you care about the environment, it seems likely you’d also care about your own health.
An interesting day. My mum enjoyed it too, I thought it would be good for her to see the sort of things involved in doing my PhD, and prove I’m not just being anti-social when I say I’m busy and have to do ‘research’! And today I’ve got to get back to writing about studio jewellery, still very interesting, but in a slightly different way!