The Centre for Natural Burial

By Eric Tanenblatt

s CEO of Summerland Natural Cemetery, I was very surprised Election Day when I learned the Bibb County Commission was poised to pass a “Cemetery Ordinance” which would block our project. I feel this ordinance is based on misinformation propagated by a small, vocal, but uninformed minority.

In reporter Heather Duncan’s article on the meeting and the ordinance, I learned for the first time of the so-called “Fall Line Preservation Association” led by the Rev. Donnie Bryant of Swift Creek Missionary Baptist Church, which interestingly has a five-acre cemetery in its churchyard. This is the same Rev. Bryant who said at a Macon-Bibb Planning and Zoning meeting, “Everyone knows that nothing will grow where blood is spilled.”

On the contrary, I know that I can go to my local hardware store and buy dried blood to fertilize my garden. Note, too, that the cemetery at Rev. Bryant’s church, in fact all existing cemeteries in Bibb County, could not have been developed under the new ordinance passed by the county commission.

My inspiration

So, what led me to want to open a “green cemetery”? Though I feel everything in my life has led me to this moment, the first important milestone occurred over a decade ago when I read Jessica Mitford’s book, “The American Way of Death,” originally published in the 1950s. Mitford wrote eloquently about the excesses of conventional American funerals. I recognized the deeply held desire within myself for a simple return to the Earth when I die.

A few years later, I read a brief article about green and woodland cemeteries. I was inspired. In the years since, I have educated myself by reading books, trade journals and scientific research about cemeteries. I have communicated with peers in the green burial and conventional funeral professions. I continue to study and learn. Everything I have learned convinces me that natural cemeteries are without doubt the best solution to our need to bury the bodies of our loved ones.

What is natural burial?

Natural burial is simple burial. A natural, unembalmed body is placed in a biodegradable container and buried directly in the earth. This is the way most people in the world, including certain traditional faith communities right here in Middle Georgia, bury their friends and family members.

Burial vaults originated to deter human grave robbers (not dogs or wild animals). Today they are used primarily to prevent settling and simplify grounds maintenance. In high-density cemeteries, vaults protect against intrusion into neighboring gravesites when digging a new grave. Natural cemeteries are typically low-density cemeteries, so gravesites are separated by much more than a few inches of earth, elimating the need for vaults. Mounding or settling will not significantly impact maintenance costs for Summerland Natural Cemetery, because landscaping with native grasses and wildflowers will require much less mowing than non-native turfgrass.

(As for “weeds” expressly prohibited by the new Bibb County ordinance: As a Master Gardener, Master Naturalist, member of the Georgia Exotic Pest Plant Council (GA-EPPC), and former farm girl, I daresay only a small percentage of Middle Georgians know much more about weeds or fight them more vehemently than I.)

Native plants will also require no irrigation or supplemental fertilizer, which can impact water quality. We have no plans to use water other than natural rainfall except on new plantings. Eliminating the need for irrigation reduces water demand, an especially important consideration in this time of record drought.

Water quality

While I am on the subject of water, let me further address what seems to be the most common objection to our project: Water quality. My partner Jim Wood and I spent over two years searching for land which was suitable for our project. Based on the advice of a soil scientist, one of our most important criteria was dry soil. Our proposed site for burials is on top of a hill.

Our site is located in the Fall Line Sand Hills (FLSH), a band which extends across the state from Augusta to Columbus following the Fall Line. The FLSH, which includes the southern half of Bibb County and most of Houston, Peach, Crawford, Twiggs and numerous other counties, is the recharge zone for the Southeastern Coastal Plains Aquifer, which lies above the deeper Floridian Aquifer.

North Bibb lies above the Piedmont and Blue Ridge Aquifers. Aquifers are recharged from wetlands where water pools and percolates into the ground, not from hilltops.

Our burial ground will be high and dry. Local well drillers estimate the water table to be 90 to 120 feet deep in our area. Yes, Stone Creek borders the east side of our 58-acre property. I have never personally seen water in Stone Creek, but FEMA flood maps show eight acres of our total 58 acres designated as flood plain. For this reason, we chose to develop the western portion of our site as cemetery.

The cactus, Georgia beargrass, and sandhill milkweed on our site are indicators of xeric, or “dry” soil. We will not be burying in flood plains or wetlands.

Soil issues

Our soil type, “Orangeburg” is a mixture of sand, clay and loam. We have verified this by digging to the depth of a typical grave. We found a significant portion of clay in the soil. Clay purifies water by adsorbing (sticking to) the products of decomposition, including any microbes which might remain. Studies we have read indicate dry, sandy soil with some clay content to be the best possible soil for cemeteries.

Burial depth

Another concern that some have expressed about our cemetery is depth of burial. Some are saying that we would only be burying bodies two feet deep. That is simply not true. Despite the common expression “six feet under” graves in our area are most often 42 to 48 inches deep. We will adher to that standard. Additional soil mounded on top will provide additional depth, allow for settling, and prevent puddling and seepage of water through gravesites.

Target market

I believe that some of those who opposed our project did so because of fear of members of our target market, specified in the business plan we filed with Macon-Bibb Planning and Zoning. The list included “pagans” along with Unitarian Universalists, environmentalists, Episcopalians and many others.

To me, pagans are simply those whose religion is not descended from Abraham’s convenant with Jehovah - the Judeo-Christian and Muslim faiths. The unifying factor among our neighbors who identify themselves as pagans is deep respect for the sacredness of the Earth and all living things.

In the wise words of P&Z Commissioner Jacqueline Hightower, you can’t prevent people from using their property just because they are not members of your faith community.

To those who have called our proposed cemetery a “human body dump” I want to say this: Your words are hurtful. Like most people, I know first hand the grief that comes with the tragic loss of a loved one. I assure you that, as funeral professionals, we have the greatest respect for grieving families and for the bodies of the deceased. We will tend our cemetery, perhaps not in the way of most contemporary cemeteries, but in a way that creates and preserves a beautiful, peaceful garden of remembrance.

Those who fear us, please educate yourselves. Talk with your own funeral professionals who are bound by the Federal Trade Commission Funeral Act to tell the truth about “leak-proof” vaults and caskets. While you are at it, ask the price of these items. Read about green burial and conventional burial. I recommend the Mitford book, which is still widely available, as well as books by Mark Harris or Lisa Carlson, or any of many other books available at your library.

To the Bibb County Commission and Middle Georgia legislators, I point out that a recent survey by Fox 24 in Macon showed that well over 70 percent of respondents believed natural burial to be as safe or safer than conventional burial. A 2008 AARP survey reveals that 48 percent of respondents prefer more environmentally-friendly death care options. I have talked with many young people who are very interested in greener (and more economical) arrangements. Our proponents have not yet been nearly as vocal as our opponents.

Those of you who support us, I ask you to educate yourselves, too. And please contact our elected officials. Let them know your views on the matter.

Elizabeth Collins is the CEO of Summerland Natural Cemetery.

President-elect Barack Obama’s Georgia Senate seat dilemma

After two years of campaigning, the public is more than ready to put the election behind them. However, the Peach State will face four more weeks of what promises to be a blistering partisan campaign. Election Day, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (a Republican) found himself just a few votes shy of an outright victory over Democratic challenger Jim Martin, necessitating a Dec. 2nd runoff.

Just when the voting public thought it safe to watch television and settle into Thanksgiving, each party will again take over the airwaves with more of the same political ads used to create the rancor of the general election.

While the rest of the country will be looking for how Obama assumes the presidential mantle of what he referred to as not “red” and “blue” Americans but being one “United States of America” during his historic and eloquent victory speech, there is a cross current of raw politics calling on the president-elect to draw him back onto the campaign trail.

Understanding that the national political spotlight will shine on the race that can potentially enable the Democrats to reach - or nearly reach - the 60-seat filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate, Jim Martin wasted no time in calling on President-elect Obama to campaign on his behalf.

This poses a huge dilemma for Obama as he is in a delicate situation where he must choose between acting like the “commander-in-chief” or “campaigner-in-chief.”

President-elect Bill Clinton found himself in a similar situation when then-U.S. Sen. Wyche Fowler in 1992 was faced with a run-off against challenger Paul Coverdell. Coverdell won that election and, by doing so, delivered Clinton the first loss after winning the presidency. As Coverdell’s political director at the time, I see that the factors that led to a Coverdell victory in ‘92 indicate that Chambliss is well-positioned to maintain his seat this year.

As in 1992, Democrats this year have enjoyed a number of victories across the country - but not in Georgia. Georgia is even more of a Republican stronghold than it was 16 years ago. The GOP controls the Georgia House, the Senate and the governor’s mansion. In addition, both senators are Republican as is the majority of the Georgia congressional delegation. If President-elect Bill Clinton - saxophone in hand - could not get out the vote for Sen. Fowler, it is improbable that the incoming president would be more effective in providing the votes necessary for Martin to overcome the better than three percentage points he trailed Chambliss on Election Day. After all, Sen. Chambliss earned more votes than President-elect Obama on November 4.

Most people think this presidential transition period is one where power of the presidency is handed from one administration to the next; more importantly it is also seen as the first step of shifting from campaign rhetoric to that of governing. This is how the president enters his term with political capital.

The American public is fixated on how the incoming president will fill out his Cabinet, his approach to tackling the economic problems facing the country, how foreign leaders will receive him and the unveiling of his domestic policy to be debated during the next Congress. When faced with what is likely to be the worst financial fourth quarter in decades, the last thing Americans want to hear is more campaign rhetoric and rancor in a race the Democrats will likely lose, if history is any factor. This is how a president loses his political capital.

Given these extraordinary circumstances, President-elect Obama must make a tough choice of either being presidential or political. In this instance it is almost impossible to be both.

Eric Tanenblatt heads the government affairs practice at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP and has served as a key advisor to numerous Republican elected officials.