In the last 130 years, death rituals in North America have changed dramatically. It wasn’t until the civil war, when soldiers died far from their homes, that our modern-day preservation methods began to take hold. Prior to the war, people used to die at home, leaving their families to prepare the bodies. The deceased were then observed in a parlor and buried in a cemetery and sometimes in their family’s backyard. With the need for preservation, undertakers went from box makers, to box makers plus hole diggers, to a ritual directors, and now they dictate the entire burial procedure.

Today’s funeral directors insure that relatives are uninvolved, detached, and quite unaware of the actual burial process. They also take drastic measures to safeguard the body from outside elements, to preserve and protect the remains from…well, natural decomposition I guess.  And of course, they make a pretty penny for themselves in the process.

Commemorative Nature Preserves of New York is an organization that advocates memorial nature preserves. One member, Mary Woodsen, calculated what American cemeteries inter annually:  827,060 gallons of embalming fluid, 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete, 104,272 tons of steel, 2,700 tons of copper and bronze, and 30 million board feet of hardwoods.

From an ecological perspective, these customs are not only an unnecessary squandering of resources, but the actual burial grounds additionally contribute a good amount of chemical fertilizer that  is released into our ecosystem. Also, there has been lawsuits filed in recent years involving “sealer caskets”. The buildup of anaerobic bacteria in bodies has caused corpses to actually explode, forcing the liquefied remains to leak to the front of mausoleum crypts. Talk about grossly unnatural.

But there is a new (or old) trend in burial practices gaining popularity called “green burial”. The differs from “traditional” preparation in a couple of ways. Interment of the bodies is done in a biodegradable casket, shroud, or even a favorite blanket. No embalming fluid is used, and certainly no concrete vaults.

Death is the most infinite, powerful change of state known to man. The human life cycle is punctuated by this final rite of passage, and should be carried out in a way that is respectful not only to the deceased, but to the living earth around it. Perhaps we should re-evaluate the implications of leaving behind mummified bodies underground. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.