How to Keep "Living Green" After You Die
Monday April 14, 2008
More and more people are choosing to live green—adopting lifestyles that reflect responsible environmental stewardship and are also good for the planet. Not satisfied to simply live green, however, some people are choosing to carry their environmental commitment beyond, or at least into, the grave.
Sharon O’Brien, About Guide to Senior Living, reports that a growing number of people are choosing green alternatives to traditional burial after they die.
One option is burial in a natural site, such as a woodland grove, in a biodegradable casket that decomposes quickly. No embalming fluid is used, and the gravesite is planted with trees and flowers to help reunite the deceased with the natural environment.
Another option is to mix one’s ashes with the concrete used to create artificial reefs for undersea creatures and to stop the degradation of fragile reef ecosystems.
If you find this concept odd, unorthodox, or even creepy, give it a little more thought. The amount of land we devote to cemeteries and mausoleums to preserve and honor our dead is enormous. And given the population growth projected for the next century, it is simply not sustainable.
Just imagine how much productive land we could preserve for other uses—from farming to housing to soul-enriching green spaces—if we chose to embrace green alternatives to traditional burial and to nourish the planet after we died instead of just taking up space.
Sharon O’Brien, About Guide to Senior Living, reports that a growing number of people are choosing green alternatives to traditional burial after they die.
One option is burial in a natural site, such as a woodland grove, in a biodegradable casket that decomposes quickly. No embalming fluid is used, and the gravesite is planted with trees and flowers to help reunite the deceased with the natural environment.
Another option is to mix one’s ashes with the concrete used to create artificial reefs for undersea creatures and to stop the degradation of fragile reef ecosystems.
If you find this concept odd, unorthodox, or even creepy, give it a little more thought. The amount of land we devote to cemeteries and mausoleums to preserve and honor our dead is enormous. And given the population growth projected for the next century, it is simply not sustainable.
Just imagine how much productive land we could preserve for other uses—from farming to housing to soul-enriching green spaces—if we chose to embrace green alternatives to traditional burial and to nourish the planet after we died instead of just taking up space.
Comments
Graves in a woodland grove, unfortunately, can cause serious injury to tree roots and can ultimately lead to the death of the trees. The root system on any tree spreads farther undergournd than its branches spread above ground. Any soil disturbance underneath the branches of any tree will damage and kill their roots. Better to have your ashes spread above ground than your body buried below!
We should be rememberd by our deeds,once the body is dead there is no real pourpose in taking the body to the grave.In many places in India the costum is to burn the bodies and put the ashes into the ganges river.Another costum in other contries is to leave the corpse in special elevated plataforms where the natural prosess of decomposition and comsumtion by buitres and other animas or birds takes place.With this the circle of life is realy compleated,we became part of the ecologicalfeeding chain.