Editor,
Most people assume that when we die there are only two options to dispose of our remains. We are either cremated, which has the advantage of allowing the ashes to be scattered in a favourite spot, or we go the traditional funeral route and end up in a formal cemetery, complete with a headstone and a carefully tended plot.
However, neither of these choices is environmentally friendly and either one can be expensive.
First of all, cremation requires the consumption of a huge amount of heat energy, resulting in high emissions of CO2 and other gases, and a traditional funeral requires a large hole to be dug using a machine. There is a casket to be purchased, probably a headstone and various other items to be taken care of, not to mention a gravesite which needs tending into perpetuity, thus requiring more resources to be expended indefinitely. Not only that, but since the body is usually embalmed and buried at considerable depth, no contribution whatsoever is made to the environment.
Enter Natural Burial, a relatively new phenomenon that is catching on rapidly for the simple reasons that it is simple, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly. Not only that, but most people who participate in these burials report having experienced a truly moving, meaningful and emotional farewell to the departed.
How does it work? Across Ontario and other provinces Natural Burial sites are making their appearance. These are natural woodlands or park lands set aside for the purpose, and there are two types, hybrid sites and dedicated sites. A hybrid site is where land is set aside for natural burials within an existing cemetery. A dedicated site is for natural burials only. At the time of writing, there are no dedicated sites in Ontario, only hybrids, but quite rapid progress is being made toward this goal, so some should be available in the near future. When a person is interred by natural burial, there are marked differences. First of all a spot is chosen for the interment, where a grave is dug, often, but not necessarily, by friends of the deceased. A private ceremony follows before the (un-embalmed) deceased is laid to rest in the grave. For those who wish to incorporate a religious service to honour the dead, this can be done at an appropriate time. There may be a basic pine box, or the deceased may be wrapped only in a cotton shroud before the grave is filled in. Again, it may be by traditional methods or the friends may choose to do this. The depth of the grave is shallow enough that trees can send their roots down into the grave but deep enough that wild animals cannot dig down and desecrate the site. In about twenty years the body has fully returned back to nature and there is nothing left. The law requires that the site be marked, but it can simply be a piece of natural stone with an appropriate inscription.
Most importantly, the site is allowed to return to its wild state. There will be no mowing or other unnatural tending. The site will become part of nature itself.
The costs are absolutely minimal except for a charge made by the Ontario government which is 40% of the plot cost. This fee is to pay for grave site maintenance into perpetuity, but since that care is not needed with a natural burial, pressure is being brought to bear on the Ontario government to remedy this.
Elsewhere in Canada this fee is around 13%, and the Ontario government is looking into it, but has so far refused to make this charge more in line with other provinces. Still, at the end of the day this burial method is meaningful, inexpensive and environmentally friendly.
In Owen Sound, part of the Greenwood Cemetery has been set aside for this purpose and is already in use. Anyone wishing for more in-depth information concerning natural burials can contact: susan@naturalburialassociation.ca
David Blackburn, Meaford
