The Detroit Chapter of the Great Lakes Bioneers showed “A Will for the Woods” last night. During the talk-back afterwards, I found myself saying that the funeral industry has given us what we asked for, and that we need to ask for green burial. I really think that is true. We won’t get very far if we just demonize them. This is a very important point for us to realize.

Modern techniques of embalming were developed during the Civil War when large numbers of soldiers were dying far from home. There was no dry ice, and you couldn’t just put the body on a train. So “embalming surgeons” on the field would prepare the body for transport. The funeral tour of Abraham Lincoln’s body further brought awareness to the use of embalming and the fact that funerals could now be spread out over days, instead of the need to bury as soon as possible. It was convenient to have someone else store and care for the body and build the casket and the industry was born. It became a sign of poverty in many communities if you had to have the funeral at home and care for the body yourself. It’s not surprising that those who were now making a living at “undertaking” the care of the body and making the arrangements were now telling families that it was better for them, less painful, cleaner and healthier to let them take care of everything. This was during the time when the demographics were changing drastically and not so many people were living on family farms anymore. Medical practice was growing and contributing to the institutionalization of death.

Why am I writing all this? Because I think we need to recognize our part in the transition from natural death care in the home and among the family and community to death care by professionals in the back room of some mysterious place. We don’t see death care anymore, and we had a part in letting that go. Did this cultural shift just happen to us? Perhaps to a certain extent, but we listened and let it happen. I’m glad we have modern techniques for caring for the dead for the rare situations when they are needed, but they are not needed for most of us.

Will a shift back to more environmentally friendly, personal and healthy ways of doing death care just happen to us? NO! We have to make it happen. We have to educate ourselves, be willing to examine our fears, plan ahead, share our thoughts and desires about what we want for ourselves and our planet, and make it happen! We have to talk about death. Very hard to do in a death-denying culture. Most of us start the sentence, “If I die, I want…” instead of, “When I die…”

If you want to see a cultural shift back to a more natural way of doing things, here’s what you can do:

1. Go visit a funeral director. Tell them what you want. (The number one response from them is “I don’t get many requests for green burial…”
2. Go visit the local cemetery. Tell them what you want. (Same reason.)
3. Talk to your close family and friends and tell them what you want. Good luck.
4. Write it all down and tell the closest person where the document is (not in your will, where it won’t be found until much later).
5. Get active in an organization that is doing research, promoting options, and creating green spaces.
6. All of this requires educating yourself about natural burial. There are many excellent websites out there and there are a lot of issues. There is no one right way to do it.
7. Go back to step one and do it again

BTW, in “A Will for the Woods” there are a few people wearing masks at the home funeral. It is not necessary to do so. You can’t get diseases from a dead body. They must have had a cold or something.

Cremation uses about a tank and a half of gas. Many of us in the green burial movement consider it a green option.

There are many locations that work for a natural burial - not just in a forest with mature trees with root systems that will be disturbed. Like I said, the art and science of green burial is still developing and there’s no one right way to do it. There are a lot of issues to consider. Lemme know what your questions are!