To lie down in green pastures

[didymus]

(Albany NY) Times Union:

To lie down in green pastures

NISKAYUNA — To Kate Downey, a 41-year-old mother of three, the idea of a natural burial seems, well, natural. It not only avoids the environmental impact of a contemporary burial — with its mix of metal, concrete and chemicals from caskets, vaults and embalming — but also seems in keeping with her Catholic faith.
“Christ was laid in a simple burial shroud,” said the Niskayuna resident. “It feels like a complete circle on a spiritual level.”
And it also reflects the environmental beliefs of someone who used cloth diapers for her children, heats her house with the help of a woodstove, and sells natural makeup products from home.
After getting calls from people like Downey, who want the kind of burial that was used for centuries before the rise of the modern funeral industry, the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese is opening the Capital Region’s first natural burial ground.

Located at Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery, off Troy-Schenectady Road in Niskayuna, the new Kateri Meadow Natural Burial Preserve will handle burials where chemical embalming of the deceased is not required.
Only natural cloth burial shrouds, metal-free pine boxes or willow baskets that contain the body will be allowed in the ground, and graves will be kept as a meadow of native wildflowers, marked only by simple granite memorial stones.
“We started getting more calls from people during the last several years who were interested in natural burial,” said Maureen McGuinness, family services manager for Albany Diocesan Cemeteries.

Just the other day I was reading a story about “green” burials, then I ran about this.
I like the idea of “returning to dust” as quick and naturally as possible – I was planning to be cremated b/c I hate the idea of being embalmed. But I wonder if people will be doing it to be “green” or because it is a Christian burial and “green” as a side benefit.

 

[AbideWithMe]

(Albany NY) Times Union:

Just the other day I was reading a story about “green” burials, then I ran about this.
I like the idea of “returning to dust” as quick and naturally as possible – I was planning to be cremated b/c I hate the idea of being embalmed. But I wonder if people will be doing it to be “green” or because it is a Christian burial and “green” as a side benefit.

Hmm, I hope the idea spreads. I think it’s both Christian and “green” to forego the modern expensive funeral industry in favor of letting your body return to the earth.

 

[Bonnie]

That’s what we wanted until we did the math. For us, burial in a VA cemetery is the cheapest - as in free. And because we want our remains to be buried in a cemetery that is hundreds of miles from here, we’re going with cremation.

But the container for cremains can be just about anything. So I’m looking into some nice pottery or tightly-woven baskets.