As for me, I like to see a focus group or a feasability study done regarding green funeral in Lake County, Illinois.

Thanks for the informative article.

Not new at all, I would guess ancient. According to my grandmother, the indigenous of her homeland - Zacatecas, Mexico - traditionally buried their dead directly into the ground atop a “petate” (frond mat). The mestizo poor who could not afford simple coffins did the same. Unfortunately, I don’t believe this is still practiced.

I do know that embalming is not used (at least not in her small town - pop. 6,000) and burial is immediate. On 2 different occasions she’s taken a 4 or 5 am flight out of LAX, after receiving a late-night call about a death, knowing she will arrive right after the burial is complete. Out of curiosity I asked why such a rushed burial? The answer - they don’t embalm (and apparently don’t refrigerate either). Up until this point I had never questioned embalming (disclosure - I have 37 yrs living). This led to my search about U.S. burial laws.
I’m glad to have come across the website after various searches. “Burial law in CA”and “burial without casket” were fruitless, finally “casketless burials” brought me here.