In the fifteen years since the opening of America’s first modern green burial cemetery at Ramsey Creek, South Carolina in 1998, there hasn’t been a month with as many headline news articles from major news outlets on the topic as there were this past March. The Green Burial Council estimates that as many as a quarter of America’s aging want a nature-friendly burial absent of concrete burial vaults, steel caskets, and formaldehyde embalming chemicals. The NFDA hosted a workshop entitled, "It’s Only a Matter of Time: Are You Ready for Natural Burials and Green Funerals?” for funeral directors attending the annual convention in Austin, Texas last October. Some funeral directors, including Amy Cunningham of Greenwood Heights Funeral & Cremation Services, say the time is now with one quarter of their clients prearranging green funerals.
Biodegradability is the most asked about aspect of green and natural burial alternatives when we receive inquires from families by phone or email at the Northwoods Casket Company. The Green Burial Council has certified more than twenty firms who market green burial products including caskets, urns, and burial shrouds. While the 2011 GBC Standards/Eco-Rating system for funeral products never cites the words biodegradable or degradable, nearly every marketer of green burial caskets, shrouds, or urns cites biodegradability as one of their key claims for eco-friendliness.
The October, 2012 update to the FTC Green Guides includes specific guidelines for using the word degradable or any of its derivatives when marketing green products. The guide specifies that a degradable product must completely decompose into elements found in nature within a reasonably short period of time after customary disposal. Any degradable claim for items customarily disposed in landfills, incinerators, or recycling facilities are deemed deceptive because these disposal environments do not promote decomposition within one year of disposal.
The guides were open for public comment for two years before the 2012 update. Cynthia Beal, founder of the Natural Burial Company, commented on the new language for degradable in the proposed update. She explained that caskets and urns customarily disposed in cemeteries are not likely to degrade (return to their natural elements) in one year as the law now requires. Marketers of green funeral products use degradable to differentiate from non-degradables such as steel caskets, concrete burial vaults, and urns made from metal or ceramics. Cynthia Beal stipulated that use of the word biodegradable in this context does not mislead consumers. The FTC did not adjust the content of the Green Guides to further specify, or make an exception for, funeral products customarily disposed in cemeteries.
What, really, is the relevance of biodegradability in funeral service products? An accelerated return to its natural elements does not necessarily make any given burial choice greener, or better for the environment, than another. As a matter of science, the argument is that decomposition, which releases carbon dioxide into the soil & atmosphere, should be slowed and not accelerated if we aim to reduce the degradation of our environment. Nonetheless, claims of biodegradability are only meant to discern those funeral products that are degradable from those that are not. However, the FTC Green Guides of 2012 could scrutinize marketers of natural burial caskets, urns, and shrouds for being in violation of the law for using the word biodegradable to describe their products!
Natural burial has shifted from trendy topic to modern movement in the United States just as it did almost a decade earlier in the U.K. As more consumers research green[er] funeral options and make inquiries for eco-friendly alternatives to the conventional funeral, we should expect scrutiny from the FTC. The funeral industry has not yet been the subject of FTC scrutiny for greenwashing, but that could change. Funeral service has been in the crosshairs of the FTC before—recall The Funeral Rule. Let us keep in mind that the FTC’s primary concern is protecting consumers from deceptive marketing.
What should we do? Biodegradability is a great conversation starter with families interested in green funerals. As funeral service professionals, we should be prepared and address this talking point transparently to avoid accusations of deceptive marketing. We should explain that in a conservation cemetery where the casket is in direct contact with the soil, the availability of moisture and organic bacteria create prime conditions for rapid decomposition of wooden caskets or urns, and shrouds made from natural fabric. By contrast, the same wooden casket or urn "customarily disposed" in a sealed concrete vault in a cemetery will not degrade rapidly. There are creative alternatives in a conventional cemetery that can accelerate decay, but in my experience, the family is more interested in environmental conservation than accelerated decay. It might be time to shift the conversation.
What is better for the environment? Biodegradability [of casketed human remains] is hardly relevant to the preservation of our natural habitat. We professionals should take the opportunity to explore other topics far more relevant to “being green” in funeral planning. Talking points such as carbon footprint, sustainability, toxicity, pollution, and local-sourcing are far more interesting than biodegradability. Furthermore, these talking points are more easily aligned with an individual’s core values and can better aid families making decisions, especially when choosing between burial and cremation.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Greening Funeral Service with the Three R's
Reducing, reusing, and recycling have been touted by civic, private, and environmental organizations world-wide for the better part of three decades as a simple reminder that, over time, it is the choices we make every day can make a big difference in the environment. Could there be opportunities to reduce, reuse, or even recycle in funeral service? My first thoughts on this topic were along the lines of, "not so much" when it comes to funeral service products. While it is certainly a good idea to apply the three R's in the funeral home office, break room, catering services, and restrooms, these are not the items we're all thinking about right now, are they? I made a few calls in the last several months and I am, quite honestly, surprised and thoroughly fascinated at what I learned from some of you.
I'd never considered, not for one moment, the idea of recycling or reusing a casket or burial vault. That is, not until I had the opportunity last October to speak with Charles "Buddy" Stiffler, 3rd generation funeral director at Stiffler Funeral & Cremation Service in Madison, Wisconsin. Buddy tells me of three baby-boomer couples in the last two years who have made prearrangements to share both casket and burial vault. The couples were all acquaintances and conceived the idea together and then each couple made their own arrangements to share their burial plot, casket, and vaults with their spouse. Two people, one cemetery plot, one casket, one vault, and one monument. That is reducing, reusing, and recycling in funeral service!
I asked the obvious questions, of course. Certainly the couples cannot coordinate the timing of their deaths. "We exhume graves a couple times a year, but for investigative or relocation purposes," Buddy shares with me. "It's not a stretch of the imagination to return the casket to our facility where we will carefully place the husband and wife together in perpetuity." The second funeral service, of course, is a closed casket. In fact, the casket won't be present as the condition of it is not predictable despite the decision by each couple to use a 16 gauge stainless steel casket in a sealed concrete vault.
Warming up to the idea, I wrote a few letters looking for more examples of the three R's in funeral service. Could this be a new idea? Maybe a trend? After all, the thought of husband and wife sharing a final resting place together sounds nice. Co-mingling human remans is not a new idea. For many centuries in Europe, underground crypts and catacombs have served as the shared final resting places for human remains, "Shall we say unto the bones of our fathers, Arise, and go into another land?" (For a fascinating story, look up the CNN documentary on the 200 miles of catacombs under Paris that serve as the final resting place for more than 6 million people.)
Next I heard from Theodore "Tidy" M. Balmer, a licensed funeral director in North Carolina. Tidy shares that he's conducted one such service for a family that chose to reuse both casket and burial vault for an elderly gentleman who passed just two weeks after his wife was buried. "I'd never considered opening a casket before, but we made it work for the family," said Tidy. "They were rather petite individuals so there was plenty of room in the standard-sized casket for the couple to lay comfortably."
"Oversized caskets are generally available as a suitable burial container for our growing [sic] population," says Cass Ketmacher at Walters Casket Company in Indiana "but I didn't imagine fulfilling a request for an oversized casket suitable for two people!" That's exactly what happened one day last summer when a Chicago widow buried her husband in an oversized casket. She didn't need the larger casket for him--he was an average size. She made advanced arrangements for her own internment to share both casket and burial vault with her husband.
I also heard from several of crematory operators that, while not common, a number of families reuse the same urn for cremated remains for two members of the same family to co-mingle in one urn. Samuel "Smokey" Chambers, assistant crematory operator at a crematorium in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, tells me over a cup of coffee, "If this trend gains momentum, there'll be a whole new market for larger oversized urns." He continues with a smile, "I can imagine trading in your old urn for a larger one when the time arises and selling perfectly usable pre-occupied urns for a few dollars less than the new ones." After a few more sips of coffee, we chuckled at the possibilities including an urn detailing service that could guarantee the previous occupant had thoroughly vacated the urn.
Examples of the three R's in funeral service is a timely topic for the first of April. I trust you are warming up to new ideas as our long-awaited Spring brings milder temperatures. If you have any examples of reducing, reusing, or recycling in funeral service, please comment here.
Reducing, reusing, and recycling have been touted by civic, private, and environmental organizations world-wide for the better part of three decades as a simple reminder that, over time, it is the choices we make every day can make a big difference in the environment. Could there be opportunities to reduce, reuse, or even recycle in funeral service? My first thoughts on this topic were along the lines of, "not so much" when it comes to funeral service products. While it is certainly a good idea to apply the three R's in the funeral home office, break room, catering services, and restrooms, these are not the items we're all thinking about right now, are they? I made a few calls in the last several months and I am, quite honestly, surprised and thoroughly fascinated at what I learned from some of you.
I'd never considered, not for one moment, the idea of recycling or reusing a casket or burial vault. That is, not until I had the opportunity last October to speak with Charles "Buddy" Stiffler, 3rd generation funeral director at Stiffler Funeral & Cremation Service in Madison, Wisconsin. Buddy tells me of three baby-boomer couples in the last two years who have made prearrangements to share both casket and burial vault. The couples were all acquaintances and conceived the idea together and then each couple made their own arrangements to share their burial plot, casket, and vaults with their spouse. Two people, one cemetery plot, one casket, one vault, and one monument. That is reducing, reusing, and recycling in funeral service!
I asked the obvious questions, of course. Certainly the couples cannot coordinate the timing of their deaths. "We exhume graves a couple times a year, but for investigative or relocation purposes," Buddy shares with me. "It's not a stretch of the imagination to return the casket to our facility where we will carefully place the husband and wife together in perpetuity." The second funeral service, of course, is a closed casket. In fact, the casket won't be present as the condition of it is not predictable despite the decision by each couple to use a 16 gauge stainless steel casket in a sealed concrete vault.
Warming up to the idea, I wrote a few letters looking for more examples of the three R's in funeral service. Could this be a new idea? Maybe a trend? After all, the thought of husband and wife sharing a final resting place together sounds nice. Co-mingling human remans is not a new idea. For many centuries in Europe, underground crypts and catacombs have served as the shared final resting places for human remains, "Shall we say unto the bones of our fathers, Arise, and go into another land?" (For a fascinating story, look up the CNN documentary on the 200 miles of catacombs under Paris that serve as the final resting place for more than 6 million people.)
Next I heard from Theodore "Tidy" M. Balmer, a licensed funeral director in North Carolina. Tidy shares that he's conducted one such service for a family that chose to reuse both casket and burial vault for an elderly gentleman who passed just two weeks after his wife was buried. "I'd never considered opening a casket before, but we made it work for the family," said Tidy. "They were rather petite individuals so there was plenty of room in the standard-sized casket for the couple to lay comfortably."
"Oversized caskets are generally available as a suitable burial container for our growing [sic] population," says Cass Ketmacher at Walters Casket Company in Indiana "but I didn't imagine fulfilling a request for an oversized casket suitable for two people!" That's exactly what happened one day last summer when a Chicago widow buried her husband in an oversized casket. She didn't need the larger casket for him--he was an average size. She made advanced arrangements for her own internment to share both casket and burial vault with her husband.
I also heard from several of crematory operators that, while not common, a number of families reuse the same urn for cremated remains for two members of the same family to co-mingle in one urn. Samuel "Smokey" Chambers, assistant crematory operator at a crematorium in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, tells me over a cup of coffee, "If this trend gains momentum, there'll be a whole new market for larger oversized urns." He continues with a smile, "I can imagine trading in your old urn for a larger one when the time arises and selling perfectly usable pre-occupied urns for a few dollars less than the new ones." After a few more sips of coffee, we chuckled at the possibilities including an urn detailing service that could guarantee the previous occupant had thoroughly vacated the urn.
Examples of the three R's in funeral service is a timely topic for the first of April. I trust you are warming up to new ideas as our long-awaited Spring brings milder temperatures. If you have any examples of reducing, reusing, or recycling in funeral service, please comment here.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Green Funerals for The Minimalists
At first glance, you might think you've heard about minimalism before. The phrase "Less is More" was the motto of German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886 to 1969). Regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture, Meis along with post WWI contemporaries including Frank Lloyd Wright, helped define a trend in design and architecture wherein their subjects were reduced to their necessary elements. Post WWII America experienced a wave of minimalism, especially in the music and art of the 1960s and 1970s, reinforcing the appeal of pared down design elements. London and New York witnessed another revival of minimalist architecture in the late 1980s where architects and fashion designers collaborated on boutiques to achieve simplicity using white elements, cold lighting, and large spaces with minimum objects and furniture.
There's another revival of minimalism in this new millennium. As described by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus and their two million followers (theminimalists.com), Minimalism is a lifestyle that helps people question what things add value to their lives. It is a matter of living a more meaningful life with less stuff. While each one of us embraces minimalism differently, our paths lead to the same place: a life with more time, more money, and more freedom to live a more meaningful life.
Before we apply minimalist thinking to greener funerals, let us explore more deeply some examples of minimalism and how it might affect our choices. My journey into minimalism began last summer. After reading a few articles on Joshua and Ryan's blog, I quickly realized that "the clutter" in my life was a liability. Not only did these things fail to bring joy into my life, many of these things were actually the cause of anxiety in my life. The clutter in my life included clothing that hadn't fit in years, unfinished projects, spare parts, leftover building materials, books, papers, furniture, and a plethora of other things I had acquired, inherited, or purchased. As a family, we began paring down. More than ten truck loads left our home destined for garage sales, friends & family, and Goodwill where these things went to good use. Even my 1978 BMW motorcycle, in boxes of parts, near and dear to me more than fifteen years ago and yet untouched for as many years went to a new home freeing up both storage space and my conscience. It felt great.
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| More than 10 truck loads of stuff left our home. |
Minimalism isn't a matter of living more cheaply or making painful sacrifices. If fact, let us illustrate with a pair of shoes. A minimalist might choose to keep just one pair of shoes… instead of 14 pairs like so many of us probably have right now. One very nice pair of lace-up wingtips made by Allen Edmonds might cost more than $300. However, these fine shoes will work for almost any occasion casual or formal, will last several years (even if worn daily so long as they are cared for), and be truly comfortable to wear. For the person who keeps 14 different pairs of shoes, wearing just one very nice carefully selected pair of shoes might bring more joy into his/her life. We might actually spend less money on shoes overall if we choose a pair of shoes that we will enjoy more thoroughly and for longer. If we're only buying one pair of shoes, we can afford to pay a premium price for a pair that meets all of our needs.
Minimalist thinking can be applied to all of the choices in our lives. Are we making choices that add to the joy in our lives? Or are we making choices that add to the clutter and anxiety in our lives? To live a more meaningful life, it helps to clear the clutter from our life's path. That path is different for each and every one of us. While possessions are the easiest place to start clearing away the clutter, the same thinking can improve the quality of our lives when applied to our health, relationships, the company we keep, in our careers, and yes, even funerals.
As funeral service professionals let's ask ourselves, are we minimalists? Are we helping our families make meaningful choices in funeral service? Do the choices we present our families and the guidance we give them truly bring more meaning into their lives? Do we propose a feature, aspect, or element of funeral service because that's just what we do? …or because this element will bring meaning to the family? While every family embraces the end-of-life sacrament differently, as professionals in funeral service we can lead our families to the same place: a meaningful funeral service.
Could a minimalist funeral be a greener funeral? That depends on the family, but I'll bet more often than not that a carefully planned and meaningful funeral is greener than the "standard package" funeral. Like the wingtip shoes, I'll also bet that many families are willing to spend more on carefully selected elements that are truly meaningful. Many funeral directors tell me about a trend wherein families are choosing to spend less money on a casket and monument, but significantly more money on food and refreshments for a celebration. Perhaps these families are asking themselves if their choices are bringing more meaning into the funeral service. If we help our families ask exactly that, we could not only bring more meaning into funeral service, but we might also notice that many of these "meaningful choices" are also greener.
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| Good choices can bring more meaning into the funeral service. |
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