Eco-friendly farewells

Six feet greener

Funerals that help the environment are taking off

See article

Readers' comments



Dr Kick

The greenest burial (and one of humanity's oldest methods of burial) gets little or no mention in most reviews. Burial at sea.

D. Sherman in reply to RR38

Having read your link, it appears that "promession" is very similar, if not identical to "cryomation". In any case, the ecological impact of the disposition of a person's corpse is miniscule compared to the ecological impact of how they lived their life. Perhaps the interest in "ecological" disposition of bodies is a sort of propitiation to the Earth for the damage we caused during our lives?

In very many ways, environmentalism is the new religion of developed countries, and like all religions, symbolism is important. Since ancient times, some people have placed pennies on the eyes of the corpse, originally to pay the ferryman who would carry their soul to the land of the dead. There are variations in the details of the belief, but the undercurrent is not unlike the doctrine of purgatory; there is a price the dead must pay to have a happy afterlife, and their survivors can help pay it. Now, to many people, our debt it to the Earth against whom we have sinned merely by existing, rather than in St Peter's account book or the toll booth at the river Styx, but that is merely a reapplication of an ancient idea.

The article mentions the "declining number of Christians", but what about the changing doctrine and beliefs of those who remain Christian? It has long been traditional for Catholics to be buried with their feet to the east, for example, because according to the Bible, when the Lord returns, He will come from the East like the rising sun, so that when Gabriel blows his trumpet and the dead arise (the Apostle's Creed refers to "the resurrection of the body") they will be conveniently situated to sit upright at their waists and greet Him. Indeed until recently, Catholics and other Christians were taught that their body must be buried intact in order to allow for their bodily resurrection at the end of time. These ideas may seem silly today, but even 50 years ago, they were taken very seriously, and no doubt some people still believe them.

Perhaps what it comes down to is that we still want to do SOMETHING for people we cared about, even though they're dead and there really isn't anything we can do for them. We want to continue caring and continue showing that we care. That might mean spotting them the ferry fare, praying them an indulgence or buying one from the priest, or placing them in their grave so that they won't have to twist around uncomfortably when the Lord returns, or it might mean obtaining for their souls or their memory a little bit of an environmental indulgence by disposing of their corporeal form in a "green" manner.

The irony, of course is that none of these new technologies can compete in greenness with the most ancient method -- simple burial in the Earth -- nor with the even more prehistoric method of doing nothing and letting wild animals eat the body.

James Leedam

We operate seven beautiful natural burial grounds around the UK. On reading this article we decided to look at how many of our customers have come via the Coop and Dignity. Taking our Cardiff burial ground as a sample: 46% come from independent funeral directors, 43% come to us directly, 9% come from the Coop and just 2% come via Dignity - Looks as if Dignity is underestimating demand for natural burial by a long chalk!

RR38 in reply to D. Sherman

Thank you. Promession is the 'classic' method using liquid nitrogen and the superiority of the system lies in the way the vibration is executed to render the remains ready for burial with no further treatment apart from the removal of artificial joints and surgical implants including mercury tooth fillings. Both traditional burial and cremation can result in contamination of the environment with mercury. Some efforts are being made to reduce this contamination but they only aim to reduce it by 50%. See this link if you would like to know more about the mercury problem:


The Cremation Society of Great Britain is open to new ways. See:
"The objects for which the Society is established, as expressed its current Memorandum of Association, are:-
to promote the practice of cremation for the respectful disposal of the bodies of dead persons;
to advance public education in the practice and ethics of cremation; and
to investigate methods of disposing of the bodies of dead persons which appear to the Society to be superior to cremation and, if the Society thinks fit, to promote such methods and advance public education in their practice and ethics either instead or or in addition to cremation."
Bearing in mind that the human body is 70% water, alternatives to cremation could easily be more efficient.



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