The Green Burial Guidebook (eBook)

Elizabeth Fournier is the owner and operator of Cornerstone Funeral Services in Boring, Oregon, the first green funeral home in the Portland metropolitan area. She is a member of the international board of directors for North America Natural Burial and the advisory board for the Green Burial Council, the environmental certification organization setting the standards for green burial in North America.

SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION

Preface

What Is Green Burial

A Brief History

The Eco-Statistics

But is Green Burial Legal?

SECTION TWO: GETTING STARTED

Why I Wrote This Book

How to Use This Book

Talking the Talk

The Fundamentals

Greenwashing

SECTION THREE: WHAT DOES A GREEN BURIAL LOOKS LIKE?

A Green Burial Glimpse

My First Green Burial

Basic Green Burial Terms

But What about Cremation? Isn't It Green?

SECTION FOUR: PUTTING THE PLAN ON PAPER

How Much Does a Green Burial Cost?

What is a Home Funeral?

What is Your Vision?

Funeral Wish List

SECTION FIVE: LEGALITIES

Do I Need a Funeral Director?

Appointing an Individual to Handle Arrangements

Order of the Next of Kin

How to Appoint an Agent

Durable Power of Attorney Document

Legal Paperwork

Vital Statistics Form

How to Obtain a Home Funeral Packet

SECTION SIX: D-I-Y BURIAL

It Takes a Village

Death Cafe

What is a Death Midwife?

What is a Death Care Consultant?

SECTION SEVEN: HOW TO HANDLE THE BODY

A Few Words of Precaution

Washing

Green Embalming

Dressing

Refrigeration

Dry Ice

Transportation

SECTION EIGHT: NATURAL BURIAL CASKET

How to Make a Green Burial Wood Casket

Shelves for Life

SECTION NINE: GREEN BURIAL CONTAINERS

Green Burial Shrouds

Shrouding Board?

Cardboard Casket

Infinity Burial Suit

Infinity Burial Shroud

Kinkaraco Shrouds

SECTION TEN: GREEN BURIAL GROUNDS

What Qualifies as a Green Burial Ground?

Three Kinds of Green Burial Cemeteries

List of Green Burial Grounds by State and Province

SECTION ELEVEN: BACKYARD BURIAL

Considerations

Legalities

Zoning In

Surveying and Measuring

Tools Needed for Digging Deep

Going Underground

Lowering the Body

Troubleshooting Unseen Issues

SECTION TWELVE: GREEN BURIALS OF THE FAMOUS

Joey Feek

Lynn Redgrave

Andy Griffith

Cesar Chavez

A Will for the Woods Movie

SECTION THIRTEEN: OTHER GREEN DISPOSITION OPTIONS

Burial at Sea

Body Farm

Religion and Green Burial

Scene of a Native American Burial

SECTION FOURTEEN: GREEN BURIAL IN OTHER CULTURES

Upright (Vertical) Burial

Human Composting ? Promessa

Capsula Mundi

Hanging Coffins

Tibetan Sky Burials

Turning of the Bones

SECTION FIFTEEN: GREENING YOUR CREMAINS

Crestone End-of-Life Project

Alkaline Hydrolysis

Dryer Lint Urns

Eternal Reefs

Bio Urn

Let Your Love Grow

Rest in Pieces

Sustainable Art

SECTION SIXTEEN: GREENING YOUR LAST HURRAH

Sustainable Mourning Meals

Hold the Flowers

Send a Tree

Seed Cards

Memory Cards

Carpooling

SECTION SEVENTEEN: CONCLUSION

Resources

Index

Photo Credits