New life for an old idea
By Daily Messenger
One of our closest friends died recently. His end was tragic, shocking, totally unexpected. His family, understandably disconsolate, was further distressed by the unanticipated cost of disposition of his remains at a time when they could least afford it.
Though we may recoil at the idea of making funeral arrangements for ourselves, it is a kindness to those we leave if our plans have been made or are at least known. Good decisions are difficult to make when we are reeling with grief and under pressure to act quickly.
The funeral industry generates $11 billion annually. According to the Federated Funeral Directors of America, the average cost of a funeral in 2006 was $7,323, which included moving, embalming, preparations for viewing, memorial printing, hearse, casket and vault; note that the cost of a cemetery plot, monument, flowers, and obituary were not included.
I do not imply that funeral homes overcharge for their goods and services (you couldn’t pay me enough to do the job they do), or that they pressure the bereaved into buying things they don’t want; but I do think that some aren’t entirely forthcoming about legal requirements of burial and allow common misconceptions to lie undisturbed. If we don’t ask, they don’t tell.
Many people are under the impression that embalming is mandated by state law. Not true. Individual funeral homes may insist on embalming if there is to be a viewing but it is not required by state law. The same is true of caskets and burial vaults: The state requires neither but individual cemeteries may insist on either or both. The state only requires that a licensed funeral director transport the deceased and prepare the body for burial or cremation.
There are about 23,000 cemeteries in the United States. Each year, we bury more than 827,000 gallons of embalming fluid, 104,000 tons of steel, 2,700 tons of copper and bronze, 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete and more than 30 million board feet of hardwoods. Cremation is the least costly method of disposition but each cremation releases between 0.8 and 5.9 grams of mercury into the air, water and soil. It is claimed that the energy equivalent of the amount of energy used in a cremation would enable a car trip of about 4,800 miles.
My grandfather used to say that all he wanted was for someone to roll him into a hole and fill it in when he died. There are increasing numbers of ecologically minded consumers who would agree with his vision. It is an old idea whose time has come again.
“Green cemeteries” endorse the burial methods of the pre-Industrial era; plastics, metals, concrete and embalming fluid are prohibited. Simple burial shrouds or plain pine boxes are preferred. Most abstain from traditional landscaping and groundskeeping, as well, thereby reducing the amount of fertilizer and pesticides in the watershed. Some green cemeteries mark grave sites with flat markers; others allow planting of a tree, but the overall impression is natural.
The first deliberately green cemetery in the country was established in 1996 in South Carolina. The concept has spread to California, Florida, Texas, Washington and the Finger Lakes region. Just south of Ithaca is Greensprings Natural Cemetery, 100 acres of woods and meadow on a hilltop bounded by Cornell’s Arnot Forest and Newfield State Forest. I hope there will soon be others.
The point is, there are choices to be made. Shop early if you can.