Monday, October 4, 2010

Green Death

So the other day my friend called me up. She has never married and she has no children. For some unknown reason she was worried about who would come to her funeral and bury her. I told her not to worry, if I am still alive at the time of her death, I would take care of her. It seems like a morbid subject, but really I believe like my grandma did. My grandma was a great pre-planner.

My grandma had everything taken care of at the time of her death, her plot, her casket, even what outfit she wanted to have on. By grandma taking care of that it was real easy for the family just to grieve. The only problem was the funeral home guy (he was not a preacher) kept calling her Elaine, when her name was Eileen. After about 10 minutes of this my sister yelled out EILEEN! It was very uncomfortable. My family believes in open caskets. I do not.

I remember when my mom died how shocked I was to see themed caskets. One would look like a boat, one for a princess, one a car. They also had cardboard boxes that you could draw on and write your final wishes. That was when Costco was just starting to sell caskets. So I thought I would go see what is new in the world of death on the internet.

The new trend in death is "green" burial and cremation. They are only a few "green" cemetery's in the country. One is just a few miles from here. Instead of being buried in a casket, you can be buried in a blanket, shroud, box or a wicker casket. Everything is biodegradable, including you. They do not embalm you. No preservatives. The green cemetery's have a special crematorium that is doubled sealed so their is no smoke or dust polluting the air.  The urns are also biodegradable and made out of recycled goods. The green cemetery gives you a global positioning number so you can find your loved one if you wish. There is no head stones, only flowers, trees and shrubs. They do not have funeral directors anymore, they have death "midwives" who are nurturing and take care of you after your dead.

I wonder if you can have your dogs buried with you at the green cemetery? I guess I will have to find out.




2 comments:

KARNA said...

Oh this is interesting! yes I would like to use a GPS to find my loved one HAHAAHAH.... sorry on such a morbid subect...(not that I am opposed to morbid subjects)....why do they have a crematorium though that puts out no smoke if they do not cremate you? curious about that. What is the cost did you find out? this may appeal to me...you can look me up on your GPS to pay your respects ;)

Lila said...

Let me guess, we're all going to be put 6-feet under, rolled up in a blanket, just so 20-years later they can turn up the dirt easily to build a shopping mall? No thanks.