Basic HTML Version
Page A22
FEBRUARY 2013
FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS
S ec t i on A
“Quite Possibly
America’s Finest
Line of Professional
Cosmetics”
• COVER CREMES
• LIP COLOR
• LIQUIDTINTS
• POWDER
• BRUSHES
•WAX
CALL FOR OUR CATALOG
1-800-531-9744
Fax 903-641-0383 E-Mail: dermapro@wtrt.net
Oversized 9” x 13” x 14 1/2”
Over 1300 Cu. In.
Original 9” x 9” x 14 1/2”
Over 900 Cu. In.
Tongue and groove
connection.
Solid Jeweler’s
Bronze Mausoleum
Vases & Holders
Plastic Mausoleum
Vases & Holders
®
2”
to
10”
High
over
450
Varieties
Floral Lawn Vases
®
Dozens of Options
Triple H
Company
®
Peace
White
Ring or
Button
Design
Over 150
Varieties
Bronze,
Verde Green
or Gold Color
Antique
Gold
P.O. Box 5790 Ventura, CA 93005-0790
Tel 800-252-3444 or FAX: 805-650-6444
®
Green
velour lined.
Cemetery, Crematory and Mausoleum Supply Since 1950
CREMATION DIVISION
Jonas A. Zahn is the president and founder of Northwoods Cas-
ket Co., a manufacturer of environmentally friendly caskets made
in Wisconsin. He has been involved in casket-making since build-
ing a casket for his Grandfather in 2004 and now distributes sus-
tainable caskets to funeral homes throughout the United States.
Recently invited by the Green Burial Council, Jonas serves as an
advisor to the committee on defining the standards for green
burial containers. Jonas has a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil
Engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Jonas
can be reached by email at jonas.zahn@NorthwoodsCasket.com.
Visit Northwoods Casket online a
By Jonas A. Zahn
Greening
the Funeral
Industry
simple “environmentally aware” burial. Two families
used simple wooden caskets, and three used cloth burial
shrouds. Graham explains they do not have vault or cas-
ket requirements, but they do have some restrictions on
headstones.
A very new burial ground by contrast is the
Natural
Path Sanctuary
that opened June, 2011 in Verona, WI.
Kevin Corrado
, coordinator for the sanctuary, explains
that while they prefer shrouded burials they will accept
caskets made from “unfinished non-precious woods”
and free of non-biodegradable materials. Conventional
practices including burial vaults, embalming, and grave
markers are not allowed. All graves in the wooded sanc-
tuary are dug and closed by hand.
In 2012, the
Catholic Sentinel
reported that
Mount
Calvary
in Portland, OR became the second Catholic
cemetery in the nation to offer a dedicated area of the
cemetery for green burial.
Tim Corbett
, superintendent
of Catholic cemeteries for the Archdiocese of Portland,
explains that he first started hearing about green burial
six years ago. He views this movement as a way for peo-
ple to leave a natural legacy adding that if everyone opted
for a green burial, he’d have 500 acres of endowed forest.
The St. Francis green burial section of the cemetery has
space for 120 graves and will re-forest the area as inter-
ments are made.
The Green Burial Council (greenburialcouncil.org)
and the
Centre for Natural Burial
(naturalburial.coop)
each list more than 30 green burial sites in the U.S. If we
include all private, municipal, and church operated cem-
eteries offering green burial options there may already be
more than 200 cemeteries in America where people can
opt for a green burial. Trend or fad, I’m optimistic that
awareness on green burial continues to spread through-
out America, more options are becoming available, and
that our industry is changing for the better when it
comes to protecting our natural habitat.
Cemeteries respond to Interest
in Natural Burial
Green Burial entered the American vernacular in 1998
with the opening of
Ramsey Creek Preserve
near Green-
ville, SC. In the 15 years since there has been much dis-
cussion regarding death care in America and green alterna-
tives to conventional burial. News articles tend to follow
a formula with a cliché headline on death and burial. Ar-
ticles often include a quote from
Joe Sehee
, founder of the
Green Burial Council
(created in 2005) or
James Olson
,
spokesman on green burial for the NFDA. Most cite sta-
tistics on the volumes of hardwoods, steel, and concrete
buried each year in America’s cemeteries. Many will men-
tion
Jessica Mitford’s
American Way of Death
or a quote
from the more contemporary and journalistic views in
Grave Matters
by
Mark Harris
. Almost every story cites
survey statistics to demonstrate growing public interest
in green burial including the 2007 AARP pole indicating
21% of respondents were curious about or considering
green burial and the 2008
Kates-Boylston
survey finding
43% of respondents would consider a green burial.
A great many news stories on green burial originate from
local TV and newspaper media announcing a green cem-
etery or a green burial at a local cemetery. Many dozens of
existing municipal, religious, and private cemeteries have
opened new sections of property dedicated to varying
“shades of green” burial services. There is also the growing
number of newly opened green cemeteries entirely com-
mitted to green burial such as
Greenhaven Preserve
near
Columbia, SC.
The Green Burial Council (GBC) characterizes three
tiers of cemeteries in its green burial standard for cemeter-
ies: Hybrid, Natural, and Conservation. A Hybrid rating
might include an existing traditional cemetery that would
allow a burial without a vault or grave liner in any type of cas-
ket or burial shroud.
Riverview Cemetery
established 1882
in Portland, OR is one such Hybrid cemetery allowing green
interments in nearly every area of the cemetery. While the
GBC lists 20 such Hybrid cemeteries in North America and
Canada on its web site, there are countless municipal ceme-
teries located in both rural and urban settings across America
that have no strict requirements on the use of a burial vaults
or caskets. For most Americans, this “lighter shade of green”
burial sans vault and with an eco-friendly casket is available
nearby.
A Natural Burial Ground takes it up a notch in defining
non-toxic practices to protect the environment. The GBC
uses several criteria including the cemetery’s policies on buri-
al vaults, caskets or shrouds, embalming, use of chemicals in
lawn care, grave opening/closing techniques, and land status.
Land status must also guarantee adherence to green practices
through deed restriction, conservation easement, or other ir-
revocable legally binding agreement in perpetuity. The GBC
lists a dozen cemeteries at this level. At the highest standard,
Conservation burial grounds are those that demonstrate a le-
gally binding responsibility for perpetual stewardship of the
land and are adjacent to land of ecological significance such as
a park, wildlife corridor or critical habitat area. There are four
such cemeteries in the U.S. that have achieved the Conser-
vation burial ground level as defined by the GBC including
Honey CreekWoodlands
(Conyers, GA),
Foxfield Preserve
(Wilmot, OH),
Ramsey Creek Preserve
(Westminster, SC),
and
White Eagle Memorial Preserve
(Goldendale, WA).
The Green Burial Council has contributed much to an in-
ternational conversation on green and natural burial by defin-
ing standards. But there are far more practitioners than there
are certifications when it comes to greening America’s ceme-
teries. Inquiries for a “back to nature” burial are growing ever
more common among America’s cemeteries.
Graham Gar-
ner
, warden/manager of the 17-acre West Philadelphia, PA
Friends SouthWestern Burial Ground
established in 1861,
tells us that while they have not actively promoted green buri-
als, they have had five such burial requests already—a sig-
nificant number because sometimes a year will go by with
no burials. This cemetery, home to roughly 4000 grave sites,
is the final resting place for Quakers (and others) seeking a
(L to R) Buddy Phaneuf, President, receiving his Sea Burial
Certified™ certificate and Captain Brad White, founder of New
England Burials at Sea LLC.
New England Burials at Sea LLC, certifies the
Phaneuf Funeral Homes of New Hampshire
MARSHFIELD,MA—
The
nation’s most requested
at sea burial service,
New
England Burial at Sea
LLC
(NEBAS) continues
to educate forward-think-
ing funeral directors on the
option of burials at sea. In
December 2012, The
Pha-
neuf Funeral Home
funer-
al directors were trained and
sea burial certified in Man-
chester, New Hampshire.
Sea Burial certification
means that the funeral ar-
rangers gain the equivalen-
cy to be able to properly
describe sea burial options
with the basic understand-
ing of EPA and USCG
rules, laws and regulations
with general common sense
answers to family questions.
Phaneuf Funeral Homes
and Crematorium has been
serving the public since
1906 and is one of the old-
est continually-owned fam-
ily funeral homes in New
Hampshire. They are the
largest provider of funeral
services in the state, and they
operate three full service fu-
neral homes (Manchester,
Boscawen and Littleton),
two crematories, two non-
denominational chapels and
a cremation society.
The family has been in the
funeral profession for four
generations and they take
great pride in serving many
families, generation after
generation for all faiths, na-
tionalities and beliefs from
many different communi-
ties of New England.
NEBAS is the best known
company in the U.S. for
sea burials and it uses only
properly insured and cur-
rent U.S. Coast Guard
(USCG) licensed captains
and vessels who have been
Sea Burial Certified™ by
NEBAS.
New England Burials At
Sea LLC, (NEBAS) of-
fers burial at sea scatterings
and eco-friendly full body
sea burials, serving fami-
lies from Maine to Flori-
da and on the West Coast
for groups up to 400 peo-
ple, with 48 vessels since
2006. They are recognized
by the EPA, US Navy,
U.S.C.G. and many area
funeral homes and crema-
tories. NEBAS also creat-
ed, designed and manufac-
tures the Atlantic Sea Burial
Shroud® for full body buri-
als at sea.
For more information, call
877-897-7700 or visit www.
or
NEWS
FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY
online