Here’s What to Know About Green Funerals
A lot of us wished they were not human. Some preferred for them to be a bird to soar the sky, some want to be a lion so they can be a leader and an alpha, and some of us want to be a tree. Each passing day, a tree is being cut down to be made as our home or furniture. And not everyone is even encouraged to plant trees since it is very tiresome and some just don’t give much care. It’s time to change our tradition.
We can never say our life is well spent, not unless we experience death. In the last moments of our life, we would want to say our goodbye’s, thank you’s, and I love you’s to the people who loved, who cared for us, and who gave purpose to our life.
All our life, our funerals are always a long goodbye to the people who are inside their caskets surrounded by beautiful flowers and a number of people that knows and loves them. Well, we don’t have many options when we die because that is the traditional way and that is how we would be planning a funeral to our loved ones.
Green burial is a simple burial where the body of your loved one is covered in a blanket and placed in a biodegradable casket or none at all then buried in a forest. This is to show that nature will now be one with you. The point in this is you don’t need to be embalmed or cremated since they are both harmful for people and nature which makes this environmentally friendly.
In a Catholic community, we celebrate Ash Wednesday, where ashes are mixed with holy water, is wiped on our forehead to remind us the verse from Ecclesiastes 3:20 “all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.” Though green burials have been a thing for Muslims and Jewish, it is now slowly resurging in popularity. The reason why people like to have a green burial is because of:
Simplicity
Knowing your body would be covered with shrouds or blanket appeals to other people since the burial is simple and natural.
Eco-friendly
This is eco-friendly because the amount of steel, hardwood, and copper to make a casket will be zero. In the US cemetery, thousands of kilos of steel and millions of trees are cut down to make caskets.
A traditional burial is preserving the body for days for the wake. With a green burial, you don’t have to use hazardous chemical fluids that contain formaldehyde. Formaldehyde causes respiratory irritation when inhaled for long and carcinogen. If we count the number of dead bodies in a year and the number of chemicals that would be used in the body, it will reach millions of gallons per year which is really dangerous for our health and environment.
To be one with nature
A lot of people loves nature and would want to rest peacefully. Green burials are frequently done in forests where the dead can be literally one with nature. As the dead body of your loved one is buried, they would start to decay and be used as food for plants since they become a natural fertilizer to nature.
Low Cost
It lows cost since embalming, concrete vaults and fancy caskets are not involved for the expenses which makes this a conventional burial for people who want to be buried for a lower cost. We should keep in mind that not everyone has the luxury to have a burial. Some would even prefer to live than die since thinking about the expense of dying is already so much for them.
For some countries who don’t have a green burial, you can still make a green burial by eliminating embalming and cremation. You don’t need vaults and fancy caskets. Instead, go for biodegradable caskets and shrouds or blanket to wrap your loved one with. If you have your own land, you can bury them there and that can be considered as a home burial. But you should be careful if you are going for burial in a private property since some municipalities have requirements to achieve this. Choose a burial place where you know they can find peace and where you can visit them from time to time.
After we die, we would still want to help the world as much as possible. The traditional process of embalming just adds the expense to your burial since the chemicals for that are expensive. But who would want to be remained preserved after dying? They are not really necessary since after a wake your body will be stuck in a closed coffin. Green burial is now a thing but the problem is that only a limited number of people are aware of this information and by helping spread this, we can help our environment be better by planting trees. Knowing that I was buried by being one with nature would be a great experience even after death.
