Environmentally Conscious to the End and Beyond.
Chris Benesch told me I could still be green after I shuffled off this mortal coil. Being the environmentally conscious guy that I am, I was intrigued.
“I assume you’re not talking about mold, so how does that work exactly?”
Backtracking a bit, I always assumed I would be buried in the family plot – beside the tree that grew up on top of my Grandpa.
Until one day when I learned 93% of the people in Greater Victoria want to be cremated and that was the highest rate in all of North America. I figured I might as well join in and sign up. After all, I would take up less space and my survivors would have fun scattering my ashes at my favourite haunts.
I believed my choices were limited to cremation or embalming. Given the choice, I wanted to be cremated. I’ve been to many “traditional” funerals where the body gets pickled, dressed, placed in a casket and put on public display for viewing. Yuck. Not to mention the cost of a concrete vault and a granite headstone. Send my family a big bill after they bury me? No thank you!
“So what is green burial?” I asked Chris.
He explained. When I die, my body will be buried in a simple biodegradable container or shroud. My body won’t be embalmed and it will be buried in a place of interment designated to go back to the forest or natural setting. There won’t be a gravestone to mark the spot, but there will be a communal marker. Some indigenous plants will be placed on top of the gravesite. Absolutely no man made products will delay the process of the natural decomposition of the body.
That sounded pretty cool to me. Bring on the worms!
In greater Victoria, only Royal Oak Burial Park has signed on as the designated natural or green burial site. I think they’re ahead of the new trend.
“You don’t like polluting the earth while you’re alive, so why pollute the earth after you die?”
If you’re interested in learning more, check out their Facebook Page https://goo.gl/HQoLMp
by Mathieu Powell
www.writingimpacts.com