Current Media
Embalming Might Keep You Looking Fresh at Your Funeral, But Do You Know What It Does to the Environment? Is it necessary to be disinfected, preserved, cosmetized and deodorized for your going-away party?
www.alternet.org/health/147435

Fall 2009
After a bit of a hiatus, the Natural Burial Association is back with our occasional updates on the progress of the natural burial movement taking hold in Canada. Please forward it to family, friends or colleagues who might be interested. We are a not-for-profit organization, so any financial support would also be appreciated. To donate, please click here and specify "Natural Burial Fund".

Canadian update
The Natural Burial Association is continuing to pursue our mission to increase awareness of the movement, so we’re always pleased to be in the media:

Director Kim Bilous was recently quoted in an article “Pushing up Daisies: Eco-friendly funerals that protect green spaces”, and in Rogers Media “Green, but not forgotten”.

We’re delighted to hear that sales are going well at Ontario’s first natural burial ground, Union Cemetery in Cobourg. According to Michel Cabardos, there have been three burial and almost two dozen pre-sold plots. For more information and to purchase a plot in a natural burial ground, please go to ecoburials.ca.

There have also been several Ontario funeral homes recently certified by the Green Burial Council. For more about certified funeral homes and cemeteries in your area, go to: www.greenburialcouncil.org.

International growth of movement
The growth in the US and the UK continues.

In one new natural burial ground in Nottingham, England, the architect sums up the benefits of natural burial grounds succinctly, "The majority of people are at least aware of the climate change agenda and a fair number of people want to carry on in some way that respects the world we live in – and this is a really good way of doing it. Not only are we not using heavily manufactured, man-made materials, we are actually taking a field in the countryside and turning it into a woodland. It is providing a community service that is of tremendous value and enhancing the environment at the same time.” More »

And an interesting note in New Zealand, where a critical shortage of cemetery space has forced local government to consider using private farmland for burial sites. More »

Natural Burial – General
In a recent New York Times blog, Thomas Long writes of what he found at a recent funeral directors’ trade show, what he calls “this wild blossoming of unconventional mortuary merchandise”. Further he writes “perhaps it is the creative expression of a society grown weary of the extravagant hearse-and-limousine funerals of the past and ready to experiment with less costly and more personal ways to memorialize the dead”. More » (You will need to register for free access to this archived article)

In California, a recent “Green Funeral Fair” allowed people to shop for environmentally friendly containers, and other alternative funeral products, including biodegradable wood caskets, whose seller boasts “They’re super comfy”. More »

Many people interested in natural burial also ask about donations of their body for science. Typically, at teaching hospitals bodies are embalmed for student use, and then cremated and buried collectively with other donor bodies. This recent story from Standford explains how the bodies are embalmed and used at the university. More »

Finally, there’s a new book called Going Out Green by Bob Butz, which describes his adventures in planning his own natural burial. Read the author’s blog »