I co-led a Death and Dying workshop yesterday for the Maine Pagan Clergy Association. It went quite well I think. I did manage to go on quite a passionate rant about green burial. It is something I feel really strongly about. The issue for me is that my final act in the world, the disposal of my body, should be one of honor. I don’t see that embalming, which just fills the ground with pollution is honourable. Most caskets are filled with varnishes and synthetic materials. The head-stone and cement tomb in the ground are wasted resources as well. People will remember one’s grave site for as long as the memory of one’s self is in the consciousness of those we leave behind, as long as our story is still being told. The traditional burial with embalming, casket, and cement ground liner is a huge waste of resources, money included.
The average funeral in the States is more than $6500.00. That is more than three time Canada or Great Britain. Putting this burden on our loved ones is irresponsible as well as environmentally unsound. A green burial can be done for under $1000.00, most of the cost being the burial plot at a green cemetery. I want to be buried in a simple burial shroud of natural material and place in the ground without any environmentally unfriendly items. I have am trying to live a life honouring Nature, and trying to walk gently on the Earth. Death is completely natural so I want my burial to be natural. This final act should be one of simplicity.
Many people prefer to be cremated. To me this is also a dishonourable way of having our body disposed of. I don’t want my final act to be one of wasting more fossil fuel and polluting the air.
I feel that since I am a child of the Earth and I have spent my whole life taking from her, being fed, sheltered and clothed by her, the most honorable thing I can do is at least give back my body to the Earth so that the elements that make up my body are put back into the environment in a natural way. I want my body to decompose naturally and have it be nutrients for trees and plants. I want my body to be food for the next generation.
The Animist Druid 
I entirely agree about the non-necessity of embalming, but I want a headstone. Why? Because history is important to my spiritual practice, and much of what I know about the history that inspires me is known from tombstones. Consider, for example, the inscription on the tombstone of a Roman woman: “Stranger, my message is short. Stand by and read it through. Here is the unlovely tomb of a lovely woman. Her parents called her Claudia by name. She loved her husband with all her heart. She bore two sons; of these she leaves one on earth; under the earth she has placed the other. She was charming in converse, yet gentle in bearing. She kept house, she made wool. That’s my last word. Go your way.” We learn a lot from this — not so much about her, but about the things her family and her society considered important. I want to contribute my bit to future understanding of this time period.
You and I share the same string of thought my friend, however, Federal and State law prevent one from not being embalmed because of possible diseases.
If you know of an organization that can get around this please share with me your findings or a website as I would love to investigate this further.
“however, Federal and State law prevent one from not being embalmed because of possible diseases.”
This is not true. It only applies when the cause of death is a contagious disease that posses a threat to the public health. Muslims bury their dead within 24 hours without a casket and without embalming. This is true in Maine. We have green burial grounds where embalming is not allowed. There are many green burial grounds here in the States now.
There are three States that have laws about transporting a body across State lines. They have to be embalmed to do so. Check your State’s web site to see what the laws are. Laws regarding this are on a State level except where the CDC would need to override State law in the case of an epidemic.
There is a lot of misinformation out there. Try to get the book Caring for the Dead: Your Final Act of Love by Lisa Carlson. She goes through the laws of each State.