Green Funeral Homes: What Are They? | brokeGIRLrich
Green funeral homes are funeral homes that are willing to work with you to make sure your desire for an eco-friendly burial is carried out.
According to the law, funeral parlors need your consent for several of the things we’ve already mentioned, like embalming, but they can also refuse to have an open casket wake if you decline.
When you choose a green funeral home, you know you’re selecting a company that understands why you would want this final ceremony the way you want it.
Many funeral homes listed on the Green Burial Council’s website offer both traditional services and green burial services, so if you’re interested in just certain aspects and not ready to go whole-hog green, these could be great resources to look into. Also, if you have a spouse who has no desire to be buried green and you do, you can still set up all your funeral needs through one of these companies.
Just like the 1-3 leaf rating for green burial products, the Green Burial Council has similar guidelines for rating green funeral homes:
- Provider allows for the families of decedents to have the option of a public viewing without embalming or with the use of GBC approved post-mortem fluids.
- Provider carries at least three GBC approved/rated burial containers.
- Provider accommodates home vigils without embalming or with the use of GBC approved post-mortem fluids.
- Provider has at least one staff member who has participated in educational training approved by the GBC, which covers technical, practical and ethical issues of eco-friendly funeral service.
- Provider offers sanitation and temporary preservation of a decedent using only non-invasive techniques.
The more leaves, up to 3, a funeral home is rated, the more of these services they offer.
So why not skip the funeral home altogether?
If you live in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Nebraska, Indiana, Michigan, Utah or Louisiana you have to use a funeral director. This is sketchy as all get out to me and seems like a racket, but there you have it. It’s the law.
That being said, funeral directors are also professionals who have skills and knowledge that you may not. Remember when I wrote how an important aspect of hospice care was that people actually knew what they were doing, because my mom and I sure did not? Spending a lot of time researching death and burial might feel overwhelming. Funeral directors have made a life’s work out of it. People should be paid for their expertise.
Green funeral directors not only have all the general knowledge of the hoops that need to be jumped through at the end of one’s life – they also have all the knowledge and contacts to make sure you can have a natural burial in a timely fashion.
Home Funerals
If you live in one of the above states, a home funeral is not out of the question, but you still need to work with a funeral director to do it (and that to me is the sketchiest part of the whole requirement to use a funeral director).
If you live in one of the other 42 states in the U.S. (or in another country – I have no idea what the laws may be there), you can perform all the necessary aspects for a burial in your own home.
You can cleanse the body yourself, obtain a coffin on your own, host a service in your house and then transport the body to the cemetery on your own. To do this, you’ll need to fill out two forms with your state: a death certificate and a burial, removal and transit (BRT) permit.
If you decide to have a home funeral, you’ll be responsible for the final cleansing of your loved one. It’s best to do this immediately, since it’s becomes much more difficult once rigor mortis sets in. Undertaken with Love has a great pamphlet on how to prepare the body.
You’ll also need to plan ahead and obtain several pounds of dry ice or a LOT of freezer ice packs.
Furthermore, you’ll want to take into account exactly how you’re going to transport the body, assuming you do not plan on a home burial (which requires a lot of preplanning). Nearby funeral homes, even if they’re not green, may be willing to assist you with the final transport.
If you are super eco-conscious and the burial site isn’t too far of a ride, you can use something like a bike hearse. I even read an account of how Final Footprint ECoffins fit really well into the back of a Prius… the options are pretty extensive, but definitely another thing to be considered if you pick a home funeral.
This is a real thing… and they are a little too excited about it.
On a final note, the highest praise I found of green funerals actually came from Robert Fertig of Fertig Funeral Home, one of NJ’s few green funeral homes and a GBC 3-leaf service provider, when I contacted him to ask about the prices of green funeral services. He added this note to his email:
Once I researched the concept and visited the Steelmantown Cemetery, which is the only Natural Burial Preserve in NJ, I was sold on the idea of offering this to our client families. After experiencing our first actual green burial, I decided not only did I want to actively promote this, but wanted this for my own burial.
I feel like Mr. Fertig’s is a pretty informed opinion.
The series concludes with:
And don’t miss the first installment in the Green Funeral Series:
Lastly, here’s the final song I’d want played at my funeral – because as down with the environment as I am and despite my increased advocacy of green funerals, some bits of me are still super traditional. And I just love everything about it.
I live in Nebraska… hmm.
But I’m not sure how fun the ‘cleansing of the body’ would be anyway.
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Agreed. I think I’d be happy to hand that part over to a professional.
There are so many things that are a racket in NY and having to use a funeral home is definitely one of them, especially if you don’t require a lot of “bells and whistles” for your final send off. That being said, I had no idea there was such a thing as a green funeral home, but I love that they exist for those who need and want to use them.
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They are pretty cool and the people I spoke with to write the article were all awesome and extremely passionate about natural burials and helping families achieve exactly what they want for their loved ones.
I don’t really know what to say, other than that this is all fascinating stuff. That absolutely is a racket… it would be one thing if it they required the involvement of some sort of government office or overseer.. but an independent funeral director?!
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Especially since it’s not all states. Clearly this can all be taken care of somehow without a funeral director if 80% of the states allow it.
“…a little too excited”??? They look WAY too excited. You’re in a morbid mood, huh? How much money do you save doing it this way? It seems like you’d save a ton.
I ask only because I don’t really care how extravagant my funeral would be…..because, well, I’m dead. 🙂
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Well… I’ve sort of started myself down a morbid track and have to finish it up now.
But yeah, you do usually save several thousands of dollars on natural burial. One funeral home I contacted said that a full natural burial would cost about $6,000 through them – much cheaper than a traditional burial, but still not all that cheap. Now you can DIY a lot of aspects and save even more money that way.
I think I’d want this for my funeral. I had Joe’s same question! What about using a green funeral home? You have to pay for expertise, so do their added expertise cost more? Is it just the products themselves that are cheaper?
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Their expertise costs the same. Although a lot of costs in a funeral are with products – the casket, the burial vault, the embalming fluids, gravestones, etc. So you do save on all those fronts. If you go with a funeral home though, you will be paying for their time, the same as you would with any funeral – so if you want them to move or store the body for you, those costs would be the same. Also, if you wanted to be preserved using some of the eco-friendly options, those costs are equivalent to generic embalming costs. So would the rental time for a viewing.
The biggest appeal to me to using a green funeral home (besides not really wanting to prepare a body myself), is that they have all the items on hand already. So if you have a terminal illness, or something that leaves you with time to plan, then DIY-ing most of it will save you a ton. If you just drop dead though or have an accident, burial has to happen pretty quickly when you’re not embalmed, so the green funeral home would have access to materials and contacts with green cemeteries to be able to make timely arrangements.
Gotcha. I don’t think I could prepare the body… time to prepare or not. But all of this is very good to know.
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I had no idea that there were ways to be environmentally conscious when it came to funerals. Hopefully, my mother-in-law will want to be like that for her husband’s funeral. It’s important to me that we protect the Earth. Maybe I should ask her to read some stuff about this.
Oh yeah, I think it’s awesome to make sure that your final actions on this earth are more helpful than harmful to it – traditional burial is incredibly toxic and largely pointless. It’s focus is on rejecting the notion of death rather than embracing the circle of life.
This is a really interesting concept. I didn’t even know that this rating system existed and that there was a counsel that was in charge of rating funeral homes. This would be something that my wife and I would be interested in since we’re outdoors-lovers. We’re pre-planning our funeral right now, so we might have to look into this a little more.
I’m glad I was able to help you out! I really think it’s a terrific concept – so much more organic and better for the earth. It feels a lot more comforting to me as well.
Oh wow, that is really neat to know about green funeral homes. That sure is something new that I have just learned about since I am more used to going into a non green funeral home. It sounds like some of those green funeral homes are somewhat homemade though. http://www.shepherdfuneralhome.com/serviceoptions.html
What a wonderful consideration for a funeral home to accommodate “going eco-friendly” for a funeral arrangement. I am sure that if a person were to be buried in an eco-friendly casket, it would probably help the soil very much. It must add so much extra for a family to have their loved one prepared in a very ecologically friendly manner.
I agree that a home funeral is a reasonable thing to consider. You could have the viewing in your yard if that makes you more comfortable. In fact, if it’s summertime, you could also have the service outside.
Definitely, death has become too much of closeted thing. I think we would benefit as a society if we embrace home funerals and become more accepting of the full arc of life.
Funerals aren’t the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about going green. However, it can be nice to know that you or your loved one isn’t harming the earth after death. Arranging to have a green funeral can be a great option for anyone who’s conscious about the environment. Thanks for the information.