"Eco-friendly Funerals on the Rise"
(The Moscow Times, April 2008)
It's no longer enough to live a greener life – now people are being encouraged to be environmentally friendly when they leave the Earth too.
Cardboard coffins, shell-shaped urns and fireworks that can be packed with people's ashes were met by smiles at the Natural Death Center's Green Funeral Exhibition Saturday in London.
Britain has been a world leader in eco-friendly funerals for years and is a source of green burial products and ideas for countries like the United States, where the idea is just starting to catch on.
Green funerals attempt to be eco-friendly in every stage of the burial. Clothes are sewn from natural fibers. Coffins are constructed from biodegradable materials, and the burial plot itself is in an untamed natural setting. The idea is to leave as little mark on the Earth as possible.
"People are trying to think about what's the best way to live and with that, what's the best way to die," said Roslyn Cassidly, funeral director for Green Endings, which provides eco-friendly funerals.
However, funeral directors say there are misconceptions about the costs of a green funeral. Some people expect them to be as cheap as a do-it-yourself project, while others expect price hikes similar to what grocers charge for fair trade food.
Green funerals can be as opulent and expensive – or as low key and cheap – as any traditional funeral. It comes down to how extravagant or simple an approach mourners take.
For a concept aimed at getting back to basics, an eco-funeral can be more complicated than it sounds. The Natural Death Center has a handbook for green funerals and has set nonbinding environmental targets for cemeteries.
In a green funeral, bodies are not embalmed and are dressed in pure fiber clothes. Green campaigners say refrigeration or dry ice is a better alternative to formaldehyde, which can seep into the water system.
Biodegradable coffins also differ from the traditional mahogany. Coffins on display included one made from wicker and decorated with flowers.
One visitor, Linda McDowall, admire another coffin bundled in a beige, leaf-adorned felt shroud, saying it looked comfortable. "Cozy and warm are not words you associate with death," said McDowall, a 48-year-old German and French translator.
Cardboard coffins – which are as thick as their wooden counterparts – can be decorated by family and biodegrade within three months.
"The trouble is, they are a bit ungainly to use," said Oakfield Wood burial ground director Oliver Peacock. "They're not terribly easy to handle and if it's wet, they don't look their best either."
Particular care is taken in how coffins are buried at eco-friendly graveyards like Oakfield Wood, Peacock said. Oakfield Wood was a pasture when it opened in 1995. It is now speckled with more than 1,600 trees. Plots are marked by a tree and a wooden plaque.
For cremations – which account for 70 percent of British funerals – a person's ashes and the remains of the eco-friendly coffin are placed in bamboo, glass or ceramic urns.
New legislation in Britain requires reductions in the mercury content of plastics and treatments used in coffins starting in 2010. All biodegradable coffins meet the new standards.
Cassidy described small details as being important for green funerals, such as using smaller cars instead of limousines in funeral processions.
"What people are wanting is to know that they're doing the best they can both for their loves ones and for the environment," Cassidy said.
The exhibition Saturday brought funeral directors, coffin sellers and curious customers together for a different take on a morbid and often uncomfortable issue.
Им явно нечем заняться.
Цитировать...and fireworks that can be packed with people's ashes
Ахренеть.
И всё-таки кремация не так уж зелена. Очень много энергии идёт на выпаривание 60 кг воды ⇒ CO₂, глобальное потепление...
А зеленее зелёных гробов — их отсутствие. Как у евреев, хоронящих в простой ткани.
| А всех зеленее — похороны на Тибете. | Бр-р-р-р‼ :o |
А что там на Тибете?
Вот у парсов экологичнее некуда: всё — природе!
В Тибете примерно то же самое, только вместо башен холмы.
Э-э... Парсы-то вънѫтрь башен заносят...
Но идея же вроде бы та же: стервятники. Разве нет?
На Тибете наземные хищники не разносят?‥
Судя по нагугленым фоткам, там птицы сразу быстро налетают всё съедают.
Ну тады похоже...
Разница лишь в том, что у парсов птички специальные.
Цитата: Bhudh от ноября 4, 2010, 00:17
Вот у парсов экологичнее некуда: всё — природе!
Цитировать
Птиц заменила техника
Парсы - религиозная община зороастрийцев, живущая в Бомбее, свято чтит свои традиции, которые не позволяют осквернять священные стихии: огонь, воду, воздух, землю. Уже тысячи лет последователи пророка Заратустры хоронят умерших, казалось бы, самым варварским способом - оставляют их на растерзание зверям и птицам. В городах парсы до недавних пор поднимали своих покойников на «башни молчания», остальное завершали грифы.
В последнее время популяция грифов значительно сократилась. И парсам пришлось прибегнуть к современной технологии. Они установили на «башне молчания» огромный солнечный рефлектор, который за три дня совершает работу грифов. Для ликвидации трупного запаха зороастрийцы также используют высокую технологию - озоновый генератор.