Natural Death Centre has info on natural burial grounds (embalming not allowed) along with places to find natural caskets made from willow, bamboo or seagrass, and info on home and sea burials. Also read how to help someone who is grieving, and how to cope with companion animals die.
Avoid sending plantable memorial cards with pets, as many flowers including daisies and lilies are toxic. Also know memorial trees to avoid near horses (yew, oak, sycamore). Instead, consider donating to Trees for Life, which rewilds the Highlands. You can’t ‘name your tree’ but it does more good.
Capsula Mundi is a new invention from Italians, to replace the traditional urn. You not only go back to the ground, but have a tree planted on top of you too! The idea is to use our dead bodes to reforest the world. Sounds good!
The Natural Death Centre is a charity supported by a board of trustees, which runs an independent funeral service, alongside the Association of Natural Burial Grounds (there are 270 nationwide).
The charity was founded by a free-spirited couple in 1991 (he helped to set up Neal’s Yard Remedies with his friend, before dying in a car crash age just 52) and today the charity is run by a keen naturalist who won award for the best natural burial ground in the UK’.
This organisation which relies on donations and sales of its Natural Death Handbook (which you can often find in libraries and covers a directory of burial grounds and progressive funeral directors, alongside suppliers of green coffins & urns)) to offer impartial expert advice for anyone interested in a more natural death.
You don’t legally have to use a funeral director, though most people prefer to use one at a time of grief. The middle-ground is to find a simple funeral director recommended by The Natural Death Centre, which is run as a non-profit social enterprise (so they offer flexible services rather than ‘packages’ and don’t try to force embalming bodies on the relatives or friends).
Green coffin and urn makers are usually quite happy to sell direct, cutting out middlemen profits of funeral directors.
The government’s funeral expenses payment is available for people on certain benefits, paid directly into your bank account. This is to help cover the cost of moving the body, burial & cremation fees (including the ‘ash cash’ GP certificate) and up to £1000 for other expenses like flowers, coffins and funeral director fees.
Note that there is no law to say that bodies have to be embalmed (a very toxic procedure anyway). Reputable funeral directors should have a cold room (if not, ask why or choose another company).
The Environmental Impact of Cremation?
Cremation is a popular (and often more affordable) choice, for loved ones. But what’s the truth behind burning bodies at high temperatures until they turn to ash, which uses significant energy in furnaces that usually operate at temperatures from 760 to 1150 degrees Celsius.
Cremating one body uses the same amount of ‘fuel’ as a 500-mile car trip. Plus there are pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide emitted, along with mercury emissions from burning dental fillings.
The Natural Death Centre reports that around 75% of people now are cremated over burials, and with around 500,000 people dying each year, this is around 375,000 cremations, meaning a lot of chemicals being emitted into the air from cremation furnaces.
All that happens with a cremation is that the body is burned for around 90 minutes, then the bones are reduced to ‘ashes’ and sent to loved ones to keep in an urn. The price is a staggering average of £3000 (most of this is the cost of funeral directors to transport the body etc).
It’s often said that GPs make ‘ash cash’ from signing death certificates. In fact, this is not true. British Medical Association says this is one item that GPs cannot legally charge for, so ask why, if you are being asked to pay money.
Caledonia Cremation is Scotland’s first non-profit cremation service, owned by a registered charity that reinvests profits for grief counselling in the poorest communities. The price is around the same, but you know here the costs are simply for that reason only.
And it will also help people to arrange simple cremations using government funeral payments, for those that qualify.
Living Memorials (trees in forests)
Living Memorials: A beautiful tribute to support wildlife, but note many wildflowers and trees are toxic to pets (many trees including oak, yew and sycamore are not safe near horses).
One good idea is to donate to Trees for Life, and a ‘living memorial’ tree will be planted in the Scottish Highlands (you can’t visit, but it will likely support birds and wildlife with food and shelter, for years to come).
Solar Crematoriums
In Austin (Texas), solar crematoriums have started to become the norm, using mirrors and solar panels rather than fossil fuels to burn dead bodies.
Water Crematoriams
Water cremation (also known as alkaline hydrolysis) presents a gentle and sustainable alternative to traditional cremation methods. Instead of using high temperatures and gases, this process employs a combination of water, heat, and an alkaline solution to break down the body.
Biodgradable Urns for Animal Friends
PawPods is a company that makes beautiful biodegradable urns for pets. The founder created the company, after he was upset and appalled when his beloved dog’s ashes arrived, in a plastic bag.
Unique Stories and Glories of Graveyards
A Tomb with a View is a unique book that is not as ghoulish as it sounds. Winner of the Scottish Non-fiction book of the year, Peter takes us on a tour of graveyards, visiting the country’s best burial grounds. So push open the rusting gate, push back the ivy and take a look inside…
A considered and moving book on the timely subject of how the dead are remembered, and how they go on working below the surface of our lives. Hilary Mantel
Ross makes a likely idiosyncratic guide, and one finishes the book, feeling strangely optimistic about the inevitable. The Observer
Never has a book about death, been so full of life. James Joyce and Charles Dickens would’ve loved it. It also reveals Peter Ross to be among the best non-fiction writers in the country. Andrew O’Hagan
