The Centre for Natural Burial

Book Review By Jane Irwin
These big, handsome books from Firefly Books, each illustrated by well-known architectural photographer John de Visser, survey the extant buildings in which Canadian Christians have worshipped for the last 250 years, and some places where Canadians of all religious traditions (and none) have buried their dead for much longer. They are […]

These days, our loved ones are going out in style with a range of eco-friendly caskets, shrouds and burial practices.
ALISON GARWOOD-JONES, Globe and Mail
Old habits die hard, especially in the funeral industry. The preservationists (of bodies, that is) would have us believe that Cadillac-sized coffins are the only way to go. And, so far, most […]

By Tara, cowgirl you got that something…blog
Kind of a strange topic switch but my husband and I have been doing a lot of talking about death and funerals lately. Neither of us is real big on the whole stuffy formal funeral ritual but in this day and age it remains more or less the norm. […]

BY ALISON RAMSEY, Readers Digest Magazine
There are currently no designated natural burial cemeteries in Canada where everything put into the earth is decomposable (such as all-wood caskets), nothing contaminates the soil (no embalming fluids are used) and the ground is not groomed or laden with pesticides and herbicides. Yet you can still take steps to […]

by Ecoshakeflashlight
I live 3 blocks from one of the only Urban Sugar Shack…I think in Canada. I have spent many hours walking my dog, lying on logs, gazing up at the tree canopy, and … peering through the fence at the new burials in the cemetery beside the forest.
For years I’ve been wondering about contamination […]

By NICKI THOMAS, SPECIAL TO SUN MEDIA
Proponents of environmentally friendly burials are encouraging people to give back to the earth - by becoming part of it.
Green burials, which involve no embalming or grave lining, and biodegradable containers, “connect people to a larger story of rebirth and regeneration,” said Joe Sehee, executive director of the Green […]

y Shallima Maharaj, Reuters
North Americans who spend their lives reducing, reusing and recycling can keep doing their bit for the environment after they die, if Europe’s “green funeral” trend makes its way across the Atlantic.

If you think it’s hard to live in an environmentally conscious manner, just wait until you’re dead!
By Michael Kalmanovitch, SEE magazine
Even in death, Michael Kalmanovitch will follow the cardinal rules of conservation. He wants his body rendered, “like any other animal,” and hopefully recycled–rendering, of course, being the process by which a body is crushed […]

by Laura Godfrey, Assistant Arts Editor, Excalibur
Thousands of people recently found out just how easy it is to be green at Toronto’s first Green Living Show. The event, which ran from April 27 to 29 in the Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place, featured hundreds of booths with products and information on environmentally friendly ways […]

Shannon Beahen, Ottawa Xpress
How we die says a lot about how we live
This issue is our first Art of Living special and for it we’ve chosen stories that look at some unique or artful ways some of us choose to live: It may be where we skateboard, where we meet others of the same ideology, […]