The Centre for Natural Burial

By Keagan Harsha - WCAX News

A group of Vermonters is taking the concept of being environmentally green to a whole a new level. They’re trying to build an eco-cemetery near Bristol. An eco-cemetery is an ecological alternative to being cremated or being buried in a traditional cemetery. The interred are buried in bio-degradable caskets or in shrouds, and the bodies aren’t embalmed.

David Brynn is Director of the Green Forest Education Initiative at UVM. He says natural burials are by far the most environmentally friendly burials. “Cremation for example, takes a lot of energy. Typical burials require a lot of chemicals, and so this is a more pollution free option.”

There are also several differences above ground that make the eco-cemetery unique. Unlike a traditional cemetery, you wouldn’t see tombstones, flowers, or even flags, marking the site of a grave.

The idea for an eco-cemetery is actually the brainchild of Meghan Bannon. Bannon pitched the idea of an eco-cemetery last year as part of a class project in David Brynn’s environmental planning class at UVM. Now, Bannon, Brynn, and several supporters are working to make the idea more than a class project. The proposed site for the cemetery is owned by the Bristol Watershed Center. It’s tucked away about a quarter mile off Plank road.

The forest would still be managed as a working forest. Timber would be harvested. Hikers and skiers would still come to the area to recreate. In fact, there would be no physical evidence, other than perhaps a plaque beside the road, to indicate it was a cemetery. “It’s more about just connecting with the whole natural site as a whole rather than where the physical body is interred,” said Meghan Bannon. It would merely be a place to rest in perpetuity, while leaving an environmental legacy for generations to come.