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WHAT IS GREEN OR NATURAL BURIAL?

Green, or natural burial is a way of caring for the dead in the most natural way possible with minimal environmental impact that aids in the
conservation of natural resources, reduction of carbon emissions, protection of worker health, and the restoration and/or preservation of habitat.

The Green Burial Society of Canada’s 5 principles of green burial are:
1) No embalming
2) Direct burial without cement vault
3) Ecological restoration and conservation
4) Communal memoralization
5) Optimize land use

http://www.greenburialcanada.ca/

Green burial as a practice is not new - the only thing that's new about green burial is the name.  Human beings have been placing bodies
directly in the earth for more thousands of years than have ever been recorded.  Until the nineteenth century, the Canadian funeral
was almost exclusively a family affair—family and close friends performed most deathcare duties, including washing and laying out the body,
building the coffin, digging the grave.  Over time, the funeral industry developed with practices and recommendations that became
accepted as the norm. Families lost touch with traditional methods and values, though many rural and less affluent families
throughout the country, as well as certain religious and cultural groups, continued to care for their own after death.

In recent years, a growing number of Canadians have sought to return to these earlier customs—customs our great-grandparents
would instantly recognize and consider a normal part of family life.
Green burial not only encourages greater land stewardship, but necessarily encourages
families to get involved in the process of death to a greater degree.
From helping to dig the grave or lowering the body down into the ground to washing your loved one, dressing them,
holding a funeral in the home, building a casket or sewing a shroud, these practices often go hand-in-hand with natural disposition.


GREEN DEATHCARE MOVEMENT

EARTH FRIENDLY BURIALS FOR THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

GREEN BURIAL IS A CONTINUUM

EMBALMING
History of Embalming
Myths about Embalming
Truths about Embalming
Source Material/Resources

ISN'T CREMATION GREEN?

AQUAMATION -- A GREENER ALTERNATIVE TO CREMATION?

LAWS & LOGISTICS

EDUCATE YOURSELF, MAKE A PLAN