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What's the eco footprint of death?
"What’s the ecological cost of contemporary burial?
Each year in the U.S.’s 22,500 cemeteries we bury roughly:
827,060 gallons of embalming fluid
90,272 tons of steel (caskets)
2,700 tons of copper and bronze (caskets)
1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete (vaults)
14,000 tons of steel (vaults)
30-plus million board feet of hardwoods (much tropical; caskets)
Emissions and pesticide use:
Though we haven’t found good figures for emissions (from lawn mowing, trimming, etc.) or synthetic pesticide and fertilizer use, it’s got to be mega-tons each year. (Depending on the type of mower used, cutting grass for one hour emits as much pollution as driving a car from 100 to 650 miles.)
The average cemetery buries 1,000 gallons of embalming fluid, 97.5 tons of steel, 2,028 tons of concrete, and 56,250 board feet of high quality wood in just one acre of green.
The ecological cost of cremation:
Each cremation releases between .8 and 5.9 grams of mercury as bodies are burned. This amounts to somewhere between 1,000 and 7,800 pounds of mercury each year. Seventy-five percent goes into the air and the rest settles into the ground and water.
Cremation removes the body from the cycle of nature, keeping it from nourishing new life. We prefer earth burial.
You could drive about 4,800 miles on the energy equivalent of the energy used to cremate someone—and to the moon and back 83 times on the energy from all cremations in one year in the U.S.
Cremations of Tompkins County residents during the past year released between 1.2 and 6.8 pounds of mercury into the atmosphere. This estimate is based on a 20% statewide cremation rate—though the county’s rate is probably higher.
Your body is a natural resource, rich with life-sustaining nutrients. Your choice for natural burial is a choice for natural renewal and growth—a way to give back to the earth that sustains us all." "What’s the ecological cost of contemporary burial? Each year in the U.S.’s 22,500 cemeteries we bury roughly: ... more -
A Plain Pine Box
This is a personal and intimate look at the growing popularity of "Green Burials" in the United States. This short film documents how this process is not only environmentally sustainable; but how it tends to help to heal those who have lost loved ones through it's natural authenticity.
(Length-6:43)
Produced and Directed by Cam McHarg
www.cammcharg.com This is a personal and intimate look at the growing popularity of "Green Burials" in the United States. This short film docu... more -
A Plain Pine Box
This is a personal and intimate look at the growing popularity of "Green Burials" in the United States. This short film documents how this process is not only environmentally sustainable; but how it tends to help to heal those who have lost loved ones through it's natural authenticity.
Produced and Directed by Cam McHarg
www.cammcharg.com
(Length 12:26 minutes) This is a personal and intimate look at the growing popularity of "Green Burials" in the United States. This short film docu... more -
Composting the dead - Swedish burial company service
"Promessa Organic AB is developing and offering a new method of laying the dead to rest. An environmentally friendly form of burial that takes full consideration of the biological realities to which a corpse is subjected.
"Our ecological burial reduces environmental impact on some of our most important resources; our water, air and soil," says Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak, biologist and head of Promessa Organic AB."
I for one feel that turning the dead into something useful and beautiful like a cherry tree or a flower bush is far more morally superior to simply throwing them into a fire or into the ground. Giving our dead back to the environment is leagues more respectful than letting them rot or sit on our mantelpiece as a decoration. "Promessa Organic AB is developing and offering a new method of laying the dead to rest. An environmentally friendly form of buri... more -
Green to the End
Biodegradable coffins are part of a larger trend toward "natural" burials, which require no formaldehyde embalming, cement vaults, chemical lawn treatments or laminated caskets. Advocates say such burials are less damaging to the environment. Biodegradable coffins are part of a larger trend toward "natural" burials, which require no formaldehyde embalming, cement v... more
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Green Burials
Eco-friendly or green burials are growing in popularity, especially throughout the US and UK.Not only do they emphasize respect for the environment by the use of biodegradable coffins made of materials like cardboard, wicker and bamboo, but they also seek to create a more personal and intimate experience for someone who is burying a lost loved one. In this Current Originals pod, reporter Drew Broadrick and I visited Rupert and Claire Callender of the Green Funeral Company in Launceston, Cornwall, where we were touched by their direct, peaceful and honest approach to death. Eco-friendly or green burials are growing in popularity, especially throughout the US and UK.Not only do they emphasize respect for th... more
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Green Burials
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Green Burials
