Some Who Live Green Also Want To Die Green
Liz Collin, WCCO
The move to go green has gone well beyond reduce, reuse and recycle. It now includes a final resting place. In her 62 years, Nancy Manahan has had some time to figure out how she wants to live, but lately she’s focused on what happens when she dies.
Manahan lost her sister-in-law to breast cancer a few years ago. Instead of a fancy casket and concrete burial vault, Diane planned a very personal goodbye: She was washed by her relatives then cremated.
Manahan wants to take her own last statement one step further.
“I would just like to be wrapped in a simple, bio-degradable shroud of some sort. Like a cotton sheet would be fine. And as quickly as possible returned to the earth from which I came,” she said.
Right now that return to the earth isn’t possible in Minnesota or anywhere in the Midwest. Theresa Purcell is part of a new group in the state looking for land to change that.
“Green burial is so important because you’re not putting toxic chemicals into the ground and you’re not using up valuable resources,” Purcell said.
Technology has obviously changed in the last 100 years. Machinery makes grave-digging much easier now. But to be considered green, graves are once again dug by hand, burial vaults are eschewed, and a body isn’t embalmed or cremated because of the chemicals involved in the process.
Supporters say it’s a return to the past that’s just as safe as the way things are done today.
Washburn-McReavy has four traditional cemeteries in the metro. As a company, it’s offering more planet-friendly products like cardboard coffins and biodegradable burial urns.
“There’s no evidence that shows the environment’s adversely affected by having the type of cemetery that we are operating,” Bill McReavy said.
Instead of typical plots and stones made of marble or granite, natural burial grounds look more like parks. A rock, a tree or even GPS coordinates can mark a grave.
Cost is another factor for those hoping to pass away green. The National Funeral Directors’ Association puts the average cost of a traditional funeral at more than $6,500. A green burial can cost anywhere from a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars.