Fandango Provocatively asks:
How do you intend to dispose of your physical body after you die? Would you consider a green burial if it were legal where you live?
Let me see, burial priorities are:
- something ecologically friendly. I suppose that means using the fewest resources to effect decomposition.
- Something cheap. I don’t much care where my body ends up so I wouldn’t want anybody spending silly money on my account. That may or may not exclude a green burial.
So, yeah, I’d consider a green burial if I thought about it again, although currently I’ve instructed to be cremated.
Beyond that, when I buried my mum, she had enjoyed her garden immensely so my first thought was to scatter her ashes (she specified cremation) next to a bush there. But I had long term ideas to maybe sell the house (which I did in the end), so was worried that my daughter would not be able to access her grandma. So when dad died nine months later, I had them both “buried” together, at a local crematorium. I kept the plaque up for the first five-year term but unfortunately the renewal corresponded to my own stroke. At least my daughter and I know where their ashes are, if I ever get there again.
My instructions are that I be scattered at a certain place in the nearby New Forest. By the sounds of things, that would happen with a green burial too, except they wouldn’t be ashes. It’s a place I used to cycle lots – a mile-long, straight road (was once a WWII airfield) and I used to fill my lungs and reach speeds up to about 25-30mph.
But I’m probably more likely to end up in a shallow grave!
Mister Bump 
Green for me. I’m heading for Clayton Wood just down the road (and a bit more) from us. My grandpa’s urn was placed in a memorial thingy that went bankrupt, and now nobody can access it. It upset my mum horribly.
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Y that was something I was aware of. It has to be a publiv place. Or rather a place where it’s not feasible to stop access.
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Cremation was my way to go until I heard about this green business. I kind of like the idea, especially since one of my biggest fears is being caught in a burning building (kind of ironic, isn’t it?).
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How do costs compare?
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For some reason going green is more expensive. I say just dig a hole and toss me in. 🤣
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Fad factor.
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Could be. It’s hard enough living!
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Just thinking, though. Presumably your bones wouldn’t decompose so there’d still need to be some kind of burial?
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“They” say everything decomposes within 2 months which is hard to believe. Think about all those skeletons and bones that are found years after someone bites the dust. I dunno.
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I’d have thought a traditional coffin would take a while. Gut feel.
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What I just wrote on Fandango’s page:
Honestly I had never heard of green burials until reading this post. Now that I have it’s given me something to think about. My current arrangement is to be cremated. I have two non-biodegradable titanium joint replacements in my body; what happens to them in a green burial? Would they be removed from my body before burial or dug out of my composted remains afterwards?
It all sounds rather gruesome to me
Maybe I’ll opt for burial at sea
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Hub might catch you again 🤣
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Brilliant, that! 🤣
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Natural organic reduction (green burial) is the most environmentally friendly, but I think it costs 1.5 to 2 times more than cremation…at least as of today.
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Do you know why?
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I’m not sure. The human composing “vessel” is usually made of metal and I think it must be monitored during the six week composting process. Also, bones don’t easily decompose, so they have to be ground before including them with the other remains in the vessel. According to one site, “The average cost of a funeral with a conventional burial in the United States is approximately $8,000. And while it is hard to beat the cost of direct cremation averaging less than $2,000, natural organic reduction ranges in price from $3,000 to $7,000.
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I have no idea what a green burial is. This is my first time reading about it.
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follow the link to F’s post. He describes it a little there.
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This is an easy one as I have just done a new will. I want the most environmentally friendly way at the time, currently it is probably burial in a hessian sack in a woodland burial site, with no embalming involved or anything that could contaminate the soil.
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That sounds like a good plan.
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