The Centre for Natural Burial

by Rose Wise

Rose Wise is the founder of Ozark Avalon, a Wiccan church and nature preserve in Central Missouri.

Natural and green burials are growing trends both in the United States and here in Missouri. The movement is fueled by spiritual, philosophical and financial factors. Each year in the U.S., 30 million board feet of hardwood and 90,272 tons of steel are buried as caskets as well as large amounts of cooper and bronze.

Burial vaults account for 14,000 tons of steel and 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete. Embalming, a practice only adopted in the modern west since the Civil War, puts 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid into the environment. Embalming is the process of chemically preserving the body.

Except in limited cases it has not been practiced historically. The most notable exception was ancient Egypt, where the body was mummified using a natural salt blend called natron. This was also done in a few other isolated locations, mainly in dessert climates where the naturally occurring blend of soda ash, baking soda and salt is found. Natural, in-ground burial was by far the most common disposition of human remains, followed by cremation. (Cremation today accounts for 30 percent of American dispositions.)

The practice of chemical embalming was introduced during the Civil War to allow battlefield fatalities to be transported back to homes and families for burial. It was used mainly in cases involving transport until well into the 1900s.

Americans spend between $11 billion and $15 billion on funerals each year, and four major corporations account for 11 percent of the 20,000 funeral homes in the United States. The average funeral in America runs up to $10,000, according to Mark Harris in “Grave Matters,” and has environmental costs in resource use, pollution and occupational deaths.

These high costs represent resources literally buried. The high costs to families and the environmental impacts as well as the depersonalization have led many people to seek an alternative to embalming and conventional burial.

Natural burial is burial that does not include chemical embalming and replaces conventional metal or hardwood caskets with biodegradable containers or shrouds. These containers range from unfinished pine boxes or recycled cardboard containers to beautiful woven basket-like coffins that are created out of sustainable seagrass, willow or bamboo. Some burials use only a natural material shroud, usually with a shrouding board that may or may not be buried with the remains.

Burial vaults, the large steel and concrete boxes used in conventional burials to “line” the grave and contain the casket, are not used at all in natural burials. This means that the body settles as it discomposes and may leave the ground over the grave unlevel. Natural burial grounds can either accept these natural depressions or add fill dirt as settling occurs.

Natural burial is sometimes offered by conventional cemeteries in a designated area but may permit monument stones and use resource-intensive landscaping methods. Like many things, there is not a clear dividing line but a continuum between a natural burial and one that is truly green. Although simple natural burial is always greener than conventional burial, there is more that can be done to make a burial a positive environmental act.

There is a growing green burial movement that goes beyond natural burial to actually improve the environment and save rapidly disappearing green spaces. This movement started in the United Kingdom when Ken West established the Green Haven Woodland Burial Ground in 1993 and has grown to over 200 sites in the U.K. The movement came to the U.S. in 1998 when Billy and Kimberley Campbell established the Ramsey Creek Preserve in South Carolina.

Today there are green burial grounds in the U.S. and more in the planning and development stages. Besides the benefits to the land they also provide beautiful, natural settings for friends and family to enjoy while visiting the burial site in the future.

The nonprofit Green Burial Council, headed by Joe Sehee, promotes sustainability in end-of-life care, provides technical assistance and certifies green cemeteries. The goal of this movement is to create cemeteries that preserve large tracts of land and promote native species of wildlife and plants. This is a step beyond natural burial in that it promotes land restoration and preservation as well as the benefits of natural burial practices.

Usually there are also scatter gardens for cremated remains. Many of these green cemeteries do not mow regularly and establish woodlands, native grasses and wildflowers. Where the local regulations allow, some are able to use shallower burial depths that allow greater composting activity in the soil. Most have permanent conservation easements that prevent future development or destructive changes in land management.

Conventional burial depth is legally set at 6 feet in Missouri but can be less if a county elects. This is set by the State Department of Health Department as is the requirement of embalming in the case of a few highly contagious diseases. Three to four feet is adequate to protect remains while allowing composting of the remains.

Monuments may be native trees or other planting only, or other monuments in a distinct area separate from the actual physical remains. Many locations allow for small native stones level with the ground. Remains are physically usually tracked through survey techniques or GPS systems but may or may not be visually identifiable, especially after a period of time has passed.

Green burial is gaining acceptance and filling an important need. In “Grave Matters,” Harris suggests that 100 acres can be acquired to be restored to a natural state by turning 10 acres into a natural cemetery. In many areas this can be done and still keep prices below or in the very low range of conventional funerals. In an age where development has led to great losses of green space, these cemeteries/preserves could be one way to save and restore some of what remains while meeting an important need.

Persons desiring green burial are often motivated by strong spiritual and/or philosophical beliefs and motivations. Many persons following Earth-based paths from traditional Native Americans to neo-pagans consider the Earth sacred and wish to have their remains returned to the ground. They see life and death as a connected part of the circle with fertility given back to life by the departed.

Circle Sanctuary, a religious organization with a large national pagan outreach and property in Wisconsin, received final approval in June for natural burial in its 20-acre cemetery that is part of a 200-acre nature preserve. Although the Circle Cemetery was established in 1995, until this year it could only accept cremated remains.

Locally, Ozark Avalon, a Wiccan Church with 170 acres in Cooper County, has registered 14 acres as a cemetery and has completed much of the preliminary work to establish a Green Cemetery in Cooper County. One aspect of both of these cemeteries is the wish of many of the members to be buried on these specific lands. Others following Earth-based paths simply see the Earth as sacred and wish to honor her in their death. A well-known Native American chant translates to “The Earth is our mother; we must take care of her.”

There are also persons of more traditional religious faiths who find their spirituality has led them to prefer natural or green burials. They often see natural burial as part of the biblical stewardship of the Earth or as part of an ancient tradition that motivates many Jews. For others the motivation for a green burial is philosophical; again strong beliefs in environmentalism and personal responsibility have motivated some to choose natural or green burial.

One local woman stated, “I do not wish to become solid waste or air pollution, so this is the only ethical choice for me.” A nonprofit green cemetery on four acres is now available in Boone County. Pushing Up Daisies offers a full-service green burial program as well as assistance in death care.

Closely related to and increasingly a part of green burial is home-based death care, where family members take over many if not all of the functions of the funeral director and usually keep the body at home until burial. The laying out is done by family, and the body is kept cool with dry ice and air-conditioning. This is legal in all but a few states.

In Missouri, family members and next of kin can prepare, arrange or carry out the burial of the dead body without being a licensed funeral director as long as the activity is not conducted as a business or for business purposes. A person can also perform these same activities pursuant to the religious beliefs, tenets or practices of a religious group, sect or organization as long as the activity is not conducted as a business or for business purposes.

Families who own land can establish a family cemetery of at least one fenced acre and can have the laying out in the home and the burial on family land, which was the practice in much of the United States until well into the 1900s. Non-land-owners can obtain transit permits and take the remains to a private, nonprofit or church-established natural or green cemetery. Where the family and friends can do most of the death care but not all, there are cooperative funeral homes that can provide memorial space, cold storage and assist with permitting, but not embalming.

In most states, including Missouri, embalming is not required by law except in very limited cases, but some funeral homes refuse to handle unembalmed bodies. Unembalmed bodies can be held at home for several days with dry ice packing, or in a funeral home cold-storage unit. Three days is typical time for laying out both for physical and psychological reasons.

With the high cost of conventional burials and increasing environmental awareness, natural and green burial can be expected to increase in popularity. If this is the choice for you or a loved one, it would be wise to complete arrangements prior to need or at least have a plan made since time is an issue. It is also good to have your wishes stated in writing and to have a person designated to carry them out.