What is Green Burial?
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Green burial is a popular alternative to conventional burial that allows you or your loved one to return to the earth naturally after passing. Green burial aims to reduce the use of chemical preservatives that may pollute the burial space.
Green burial may take place on either private land or in a cemetery that accommodates green burial practices. The body is not preserved with chemicals and may be encased in a biodegradable coffin (often made of untreated softwood) or cloth shroud, and then placed into a grave without an outer vault or container that would prevent soil contact. |
What is Conservation Burial?
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At Natural Passages we have taken green burial to the next level by selecting and maintaining lands to be restored and preserved as natural habitats. Our properties use restorative, conservation-minded land management techniques, aimed at maintaining a natural landscape preserved in perpetuity. By selecting Natural Passages, you and your loved ones will have contributed to protecting these natural areas and providing a meaningful place of remembrance for future generations.
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New Life from an Old Concept
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Green burials aren’t new—they were in fact once the norm in the United States prior to the Civil War. Back then, death was an expected chapter in everyone’s life story, followed by a respectable period of mourning. The lost loved one was often laid out in the parlor for viewing and even photographed by those seeking to memorialize them forever, then buried without embalming to facilitate a natural return of “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
This ritual changed during the Civil War, when so many soldiers lost their lives far away from their homes. Underdeveloped transportation infrastructure required their bodies to be preserved long enough for a proper funeral, and the practice of embalming became commonly used to allow families to see their lost soldiers one last time. |
Why Consider Green Burial?
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