Understanding Conservation Burial
What Is Green, Natural, & Conservation Burial
What are they? How are they different? Why choose them?
Traditional vs Modern Conventional Burial.
You may have heard or seen words like natural, green, and conservation used to describe seemingly new trends in burial practices, but what do these words mean and are the practices actually new? How do they differ from the currently ubiquitous conventional form of burial, and how do they differ from each other?
As the Baldwin Hill Conservation Cemetery initiative was developed, it became apparent that green, natural, and conservation burial all harken to traditional burial—a practice that has been followed for thousands of years. The use of chemical embalming fluids and energy-intensive cement vaults is relatively new, and the necessity of these modern practices are being put into question. There are some environmental, and for some perhaps philosophical, impacts of these modern conventional burial practices.
Natural or Green Burial.
Natural and green are words used synonymously to describe a way of caring for the dead that attempts to minimize environmental impacts and embrace the biological processes of decomposition at the end-of-life. Cemeteries that practice natural burial seek to bury without impediment, meaning no embalming, no burial liners or vaults, and use of only biodegradable containers. Some may view natural burial as being more similar to planting or composting rather than entombing.
Natural burial may be associated with practices that aid in the conservation of natural resources, reduction of carbon emissions, protection of worker health, and the restoration and/or preservation of habitat. Natural and green burial necessitates the use of non-toxic and biodegradable materials such as caskets, shrouds, and urns, in place of conventional embalming fluids, concrete vaults, and elaborate caskets made of synthetic or exotic materials.
Conservation Burial.
Conservation Burial is a form of natural or green burial, but it has an added element of land conservation. Nearly any cemetery can adapt to green and natural burial practices, while a conservation cemetery as defined by the Green Burial Council may require more site-specific planning. Conservation burial can function as a tool to provide both natural burial services and leverage for larger conservation goals.
The land conservation aspect of conservation burial can take many different forms. It may include partnerships with conservation organizations, such as land trusts, and it may include land restoration or habitat improvement initiatives.
For more information about how the Baldwin Hill Conservation Cemetery was sited, see The Land.
Why Choose Conservation Burial?
It is impossible to postulate all the reasons people may have for wishing to be buried a certain way or in a certain place, but below are a few ideas on why natural and conservation burial may be of interest:
Environmental impacts are reduced through the elimination of cement vaults, embalming fluid, and elaborate exotic wood or synthetic caskets.
Choosing burial at a conservation cemetery helps to support land conservation efforts.
Philosophical reasons. For some, the reasons may be philosophical, spiritual, or religious. These traditional burial methods seek to embrace a relationship between life and death; a return of a body’s elements to earth and to further life. They do not attempt to impede, preserve, or contain a mortal body from this process.
There are many articles, books, and other publications that tackle this complex issue better than we can here. Check out our green burial resources.
The Kennebec Land Trust, while developing this initiative, had an intern research this topic. See his paper from 2016 here.
What Is Green, Natural, & Conservation Burial