Growing Environmental Concerns Are Pushing the Funeral Industry to Get Creative

You can now support environmental conservation efforts from beyond the grave.

Nearly 23 percent more Americans chose to be cremated in 2016 than in 2001, according to the Cremation Association. The National Funeral Directors Association expects the trend shifting from burial towards cremation to continue over the next 20 years, with the projected rates of cremation reaching 78.8 percent of deaths by 2035. 

Surveys indicate cremation is more popular than its alternatives because of its low cost, simplicity, and comparably low environmental harm associated with the process according to the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Southern California (FCA). The average cost of a cremation is between $1,500 and $3,500, while the average cost of a U.S. funeral is $7,180 according to the Cremation Institute and the NFDA.

Cremation, while less environmentally harmful than traditional burials, still isn’t ideal. 

Each cremation uses approximately 28 gallons of fuel and releases about 540 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as stated by the FCA. These stats, multiplied by the roughly 1 million bodies that are cremated annually in the United States alone, indicate that 270,000 tons of carbon dioxide is released annually due to cremation. 

Unsatisfied with cremation as the leading eco-friendly alternative to a traditional burial, environmentalists have turned to natural burials as a new means for the after-death processes. 

“In a natural burial, only decomposable materials are used. You’d either be buried without a coffin or in a simple decomposable coffin like a simple pine box or a cardboard box,” said Matthew Holden, an applied mathematician at the University of Queensland who focuses on the growing potential for environmental efforts in the death industry. “So, the goal of that burial is that you’re not harming the environment by using formaldehyde that can potentially leak into the soil and contaminate it.”

On October 30th, a study evaluating the biodiversity and human health benefits linked to conservation burials was published by Holden and Eve McDonald-Madden in the Conservation Letters, a journal of the Society for Conservation Biology. Holden, who led the study, suggests that the revenue from human burials could fund nature reserves and parks for threatened species, paving a way for humans to protect living creatures even after death. 

A conservation burial in practice is the same as a natural burial. However, the money that is saved in comparison to a traditional funeral, by not using chemicals or an expensive casket for example, is donated to a conservation fund. 

Holden found that if Americans who choose traditional burial over cremation instead opted for conservation burial, $3.8 billion could be redirected to environmental causes. 

“Of the 50 or so scientists I interviewed [at the University of Queensland], none of them have even heard of a conservation burial which was quite shocking,” said Holden. “Burials are sort of a taboo topic, we don’t really think about them until someone passes away that is close to us. There’s not as much research around cemeteries and burial processes as there is on comparable biodiversity benefits of other green spaces.”

“It’s one thing to say let’s do a conservation burial but you’d have to persuade thousands or millions of people to use the money that is saved to put towards conservation and that’s not always an easy thing to do in the first place,” said Craig Stanford, a biological sciences and anthropology professor at the University of Southern California. 

As a result, conservation burials are still in their infancy. However, some businesses in the death industry are looking towards natural burials as the leading environmentally conscious approach to the after-death processes. 

“We had converted the funeral home over to solar electric in 2005 and were written up in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. All of the sudden we started getting calls about more environmentally sensitive funerals,” said Robert Prout, the co-owner of Prout Funeral Home (the first in the state of New Jersey and one of the first in the nation to be certified by the Green Burial Council) and a member of the NFDA. 

“The ritual and the ceremony of a natural burial strikes a very visceral tone. It’s very powerful in its simplicity, and it allows the family to become more participants in their care as opposed to spectators in the front pew of the church,” said Prout. 

“Many of the traditional customary funerals of today have become somewhat robotic, much like many weddings. If it’s 3 o’clock you cut the cake, if it’s 3:15 p.m. you toss the garter,” said Prout. 

“A natural burial or a greener funeral allows you to break that mold and strip away some of the facade and trappings of death and be able to care for the dead while being surrounded by support of family and friends. That's what you’re looking to do at any ceremony or ritual.” 

FRIENDS funeral home in Los Angeles, California has deviated from traditional burials in pursuit of more personalized methods of dealing with loved ones after their death. 

“We do a lot of beach ceremonies or memorial services at the beach. Because we are in Venice, we get a lot of surfers,” said Ziri Rideaux, the owner and funeral director at FRIENDS funeral home. “One of our specialties is a green burial. Most cemeteries have very unhealthy practices. We always try to talk families out of embalming, but if absolutely necessary we offer ‘green embalming’ which is made from a more natural formula.” 

A common natural burial spot in southern California is the Joshua Tree Memorial Park. Situated just north of the Joshua Tree National Park, the green burial grounds look over the Yucca Valley. Looking to the west, the sun sets just beyond the mountain line. Surrounded by nature seems like the most fitting location for a natural burial. 

“Hydrolysis is starting to be used, but my problem is that it gets into the city water supply. So even though chemically it’s clean water, it feels as though the spirit is being washed down the drain,” said Rideaux. Hydrolysis is the use of an alkaline solution made with potassium hydroxide to reduce the body to a skeleton.

Rideaux is a shaman in addition to being a funeral director. As a result, she places a heavy emphasis on the importance of the loved ones being involved directly in the processes as a way to help with the grief process which is possible through non-traditional processes.  

“The family can be there for every part of the process, so we definitely encourage that at least in the time leading up to the death and three days after,” said Rideaux. 

 “The time of death is similar to the time of birth. For every person around it is an opportunity to open your heart to expand and grow,” said Rideaux. “After death, you lose your body but you don’t lose your spirit. Just the form of your body and your means of communication will change, but there is continuity after the passing. Knowing this helps the family move on a lot.”