Have you ever attended an environmentally friendly burial?

What would that be? A cardboard casket? No casket at all?

Humans digging the grave instead of a front end loader?

@elbanditoroso I don’t know, that’s why I asked. My auntie passed unexpectedly yesterday and described herself as a ‘wacky environmentalist’, so with the interesting life she lived, very abnormal, it should be interesting.

You just throw out the naked corpse into the wilderness for the animals to feast on.
What could be more natural?

Some just have a shroud around them and buried in that.
Of course for the actual Funeral they are in a casket, but at the burial site after everyone is gone then the actual burial takes place. (Biodegradable…for environmentalists)

@Inspired_2write Actually a shroud was mentioned specifically, so that is helpful, thanks.

@KNOWITALL
This is something very new as I saw it on our news channel a few days ago.
A lot of new ways are started in the Netherlands so check on there new ideas.

Not yet.
A good friend of mine says that she wants to do this
Is this similar to what you’re talking about?

“Natural (or “green”) burial is a safe and legal burial practice that uses biodegradable containers and avoids embalming fluids and vaults. Conservation burial goes a step further to commit burial fees to pay for land acquisition, protection, restoration, and management.”

@lucillelucillelucille Yes somewhat the same without the casket though.
I t would be better to be an organ donor first as it may help so many that are ill and could live a much longer life.
I am a organ donor for that very reason.

One can be “buried” in a biodegradable pod that also has the root base for a tree, so that a tree begins to grow from the pod.

Or, one can be buried with out anything covering heh body, but deep enough to keep scavenger animals from digging it up.

@zenvelo Wow, imagine a tree growing and given life for hundreds of years! I wonder if the DNA would be intermixed with the tree?

@Inspired_2write Me too. Just make sure I’m dead first ;)

@lucillelucillelucille
Yeah for sure! Otherwise you will let them know..lol

It all sounds like something she’d want. I’m just trying to prepare myself, since I’m still in a bit of shock, for an unfamiliar burial process.

@KNOWITALL
Anything new is shocking especially when it involves the death and burial of a person one loves.

@Inspired_2write Yeah. I was shocked to hear aunts and uncles aren’t covered in our bereavement leave. But in laws are. Weird.

@KNOWITALL
I suppose if enough people ask for that coverage and it would go up..it may be considered?

Most people opt for cremation any more. Rick and I have had tons of discussions about this over the years. He was dead set against cremation for the longest time, for superstitious reasons. Then his 45 year old nephew died unexpectedly about 5 years ago. He was the first to be cremated and he really threw the whole family for a loop. But Rick’s dad died just this year, at the age of 96, and HE opted for cremation. In that case you don’t have a “funeral.” You have a memorial service.
The most disgusting part about funerals is how damned expensive they are. They bank on the fact that the family is going to spare no expense, like the amount of money they spend is in direct proportion to how much they loved that family member. The church did that to Rick’s family when Dad died. It was something like, $2000 just for the small sanctuary room they held the memorial in. It was obscene.
I called my kids after that and told them if they even considered spending that kind of money on me just cuz I was dead, I’d come back to life and whoop their butts! They know good and well the best way to honor my memory is to spend as little as is humanly possible. Get an urn at Goodwill if they want an urn!

@zenvelo yeah…the caskets are made air tight, because of the embalming fluids used to treat the body to prepare it for viewing. Bad stuff. Don’t want it leaking out. Decidedly environmentally UNfriendly.

Have you ever attended the ceremony for some one who was cremated, or will this be a new experience for you and your family @KNOWITALL?

@Dutchess I have. Mom is implying its a hippie funeral and wants to talk about it later. All she said was what I wrote above. Maybe theres more?

Maybe everybody has to drop acid?

@Dutchess Or nudists? They didnt have kids so they lived a unique life. Haha

Its a sufi burial. Scarves and dancing. I’ll have to Google it. Sounds neat!

@Dutchess_III
I saw a documentary about Funeral costs and one DOES NOT HAVE to have all that they offer.
If they say that you Do then go elsewhere of call the Funeral agency that is in charge of these company policies.
I knw of a women’s family that spent $10,000 on a cremation! It was over priced and the family thought that they had no choice?

Yeah. They prey on grieving people. It’s sick, really. After Rick’s dad’s fiasco I researched my options thoroughly. I know the score and I made sure my kids know the score. Shouldn’t cost much more than $1,000 I think. I don’t want them spending money on a room in a church, but I would hope they have a “open house” at the lake for my memorial.

OMG. Can I get a ride? Please?

@Patty I’m catching a ride gurl. I’ll try to take pics if allowed. You been to one?

I have not, I don’t think. This whole thread has me so curious.

Now, there was this old well my parents were kind of sensitive about…

I’ll tell ya about it tomorrow, afterwards.

Well @KNOWITALL?

No embalming, no casket. She was wrapped in essentially a quilt on a buckboard and put in the ground (yes in city limits in a progressive, liberal city in Mo-they do exist!)

Her female circle did an invocation, reminding us we are all one. Some mandolin was played. We all got flowers to keep or put in with her. Then we were asked to leave in silence, giving her spouse time alone.

All in all, it was very loving. Not one word about Christianity per se, just the we are one, we are love, and that’s all we need -type of service.

Sounds wonderful.
I am amazed they let you bury that @KNOWITALL! I’ve always thought that was a perfectly fine thing to do, but I thought I was the only one.

@KNOWITALL Both Judaism and Islam – at least traditionally – simply bury the person covered in a shroud, without casket. It is done so as to speed the person’s decomposition and return them to the earth as quickly as possible.

Your auntie sounds some kinda cool.

♪ The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out ♫

@Patty_Melt You know, my aunt was really cool in many ways. She went to Rainbow gatherings, owned her own coffee shop in a progressive city a few hours away, she helped a lot of people and would get up in your face, over a styrofoam cup and how they aren’t environmentally friendly.

We actually didn’t get along well most of my life for various reasons. Two alpha females, we clashed.

@elbanditoroso I wouldn’t be surprised at my aunt having some Islamic beliefs. She led an interesting life, school for nursing, then wanted to be a missionary, then atheist/ agnostic (very opposed to God/Christianity), then later in life came back around to a belief I am not quite sure of, but she attended Unity (non-denom), and then her husband mentioned Sufi in regards to the burial. I honestly don’t know more than that, but I suspect the burial was toned down after we said we were coming.

I’m also quite sure that there will be a few celebrations we in the family, as Christians, are not invited to. And that’s perfectly fine with us, to each their own.