Blog Archives

Living Green - Dying Green

1/28/2015

I wonder sometimes what it means to live green. What is green? What kinds of things have come under that umbrella? To some living green has a political character. No one can deny that the term green has heavy political overtones, but when I think of green, I think of natural living, or living according to my natural human nature. Humans are part of nature. We are born here on this planet, so we are part of this ecosystem. For some reason, many of us humans are not living harmoniously with nature, but the reasons why are varied and perhaps better answered by someone else. I think, however we need to strive for living naturally with what circumstances in which we find ourselves. Some of are better able to live more harmoniously with nature than others. Those in the city might not be equipped to live the deepest darkest green lives as those living off the grid in a rural community. I think living green starts in our hearts as a desire to love the natural world around us; caring for the little spot of earth on which we live. Sometimes this might take on political action, but I don’t think it needs to. What we need to do to live green is to have the desire to live naturally, caring and nurturing nature around us. In case it escaped your notice, human beings are also part of nature. I find it easier sometimes to deal with my garden and animals than with my fellow humans, but I remind myself that we are all in this together

If we spend our lives, loving nature and seeking to do little harm to those around us, it makes no sense to me that in death we would turn our bodies into chemical waste. If we honor nature, caring and being responsible for the earth in our lives, why would we purchase a coffin created thousands of miles away, which had to be delivered using jet fuel? If we love the trees, why are we cutting them down to make a coffin? Why can’t we use repurposed wood? Why is there and industry that works against our natural tendency to return to the earth? Maybe they don’t just work against our natural tendency but creates such a mystique that the idea of dying naturally becomes suspect and disrespected. If we live lives loving and caring for the earth, than we ought to die in the same way.

Our death should reflect the lives we lead. If we strived to live a life naturally, we ought to be able to die that way. The good news is that we can. Even in states that demand our use of the funeral industry, we can die at home and have a traditional funeral. The trouble is that it just becomes more complicated. The trouble with natural, green or traditional funerals is that we have to make our wishes known before hand to those who will be taking care of our final acts on earth. We need to research what funeral director and cemetery that will work with our family in accordance with our wishes. We need to talk about death as a natural part of our living. While a green funeral is traditional, it is not conventional. Conventional becomes and easy option at the time of death unless we have laid sufficient groundwork for our family and friends. Be courageous in death as we are in life.

0 Comments

Five Considerations in Planning a Green Burial

1/21/2015

0 Comments

Five Considerations in Planning a Green Burial

It seems so long ago that I started on my green burial journey. For me green burial is about a return to simplicity, a reinforcement of people’s rights in death and the preservation of land. When planning a green, and environmentally friendly burial a few things are needed to keep in mind.

1. Biodegradable Casket or Shroud: When deciding on a casket or a shroud, keep in mind the material used and how it is put together. All parts should be made of organic, sustainable material. Shrouds are a simpler product as it breaks down quicker. Because shrouds do not have as much negative space, the grave will settle less. As the material of the casket breaks down, so the grave begins to settle. With a shroud, there is no negative space because the body is wrapped.

Remember, according to federal law, you are always allowed to purchase your own casket or shroud and the funeral home must allow this. Keep in mind how far away the product is made and how much fuel and effort it will take to get to you. Check out local wood makers or seamstresses/tailors? Keep it local and support your own community.

2. No Vaults: That should be self-explanatory. Some cemeteries that have a green burial option will allow vaults in their “green section”. I do not mean to say that all uncertified cemeteries do this, but just be aware and ask questions. Keep in mind if you are nowhere near a cemetery that allows for burials without a vault, a greener option might be an inverted or bell vault that will allow the body to return to the earth naturally. While this is not ideal, we all do the best we can and this might be your only option.

3. No Embalming: This sounds simple. In States that demand its citizens to hire a funeral director (Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Nebraska, Louisiana, New Jersey and New York) this might be more difficult than it should be. Simplicity has never been so complicated as having a traditional funeral in a state that holds our loved ones hostage to the funeral industry. If you shop around, you can find one that will allow you to remain in a natural state, cleaned and prepared traditionally. Check out the home funeral guide directory to find a guide in your area. They are better versed with how the system works in your area, and might already have established relationships with funeral directors so that you can have a simple funeral. The Green Burial Council does allow for green embalming, provided the council certified the fluids used. Any funeral director should be able to use these products, so if this is what you want, please ask.

4. Grave Markers: Grave markers should be made of native material and should not impede the viewshed. That means grave markers are permitted as long as they are made from native material and do not interfere with the natural look of the land. Upright, conventional markers are not permitted in certified burial grounds.

5. The Grave: Ideally the greenest burial takes place in a Green Burial Council certified cemetery. If your area does not have such a cemetery, check out cemeteries that allow for a green option and other cemeteries that have yet to be certified by the Green Burial Council. You have to ask about their standards when planning on a burial in these cemeteries. Whatever you choose, remember every green grave preserves the land, and is an act of love in preserving the earth.

Green Burial Council Standards

0 Comments

Speak Freely About Death: Rebel Against Fear

1/14/2015

0 Comments

When I started my little journey into the alternative death care movement I devoured any and all information, which I would place on my Facebook page with header about how interesting I thought these topics were. I can’t tell you how many parties in this early stage I brought to a screeching halt with my talk about shrouds or embalming, and how icky I though that process was. I found it odd that not everyone was as interested in the practices of the care for the dead, or how insane I thought the conventional industry was. I started to change my language because I noticed how I had been carefully trained by my culture to accept conventional death care. I began to use the word coffin, not casket, and natural body, not unembalmed. I also realized that almost everyone I knew was not as aware of the problems. I had, of course, my death partner Juliann Salinas who was just as interested as me. We could chat for hours about the industry and what we wanted to do to change the perceptions of death. How I would love sitting in a coffee shop with her discussing promessa or resomation. Oh, the looks we would get discussing the details. We still get looks when we are in public and we start talking about death practices.

As a society we are held captive to our fear of death. We fear it so much that we have let an industry grow up that in some states demands our participation in to it. We are so fearful of death that we have allowed an industry to persuade us that it is proper and loving to embalm our dead- that we must open their bodies and pump chemicals into it. We have let an industry convince us that us we must place our dead in a coffin and then in a vault to protect the body. Have we come so far down the denial of death path that we imagine our bodies will never decay if we do these things? Even with chemicals and metal coffins our bodies will begin to break down. When we deny death for so long, we just don’t know what to do anymore when someone dies. We do what we must to move through the shock of loss. Sometimes this kind of shock leads people to take a good look at death and what happens to a family after death. In general, I believe that most people are interested in death on some level, even if they have some fear of it. In the back of our minds we know that at one time we will have to face our death or the death of someone we love. It’s a hard thing to face.

In our culture of denial and fear of death, I request that you to speak freely about death, the industry, and your views on them. I ask you to read, and research because that is how we lift together the pall that we have placed over the discussion of death. This blog is a good place to start research, and so is the Midwest Green Burial Society’s reading list. It’s a little act of rebellion of counter culture that leads to change. Speaking about death places you a little bit on the outside of things for a time. Once you are comfortable talking about this societal taboo, others might feel freer to speak openly too. Speaking freely and openly is no small thing. By it, you will be allowing people to break their own fears and decide for themselves what is appropriate at the time of death is such an important change that needs to take place. Death Care is a multi-billion dollar a year industry. They have a powerful lobby in the US. Speaking freely and without fear is no small thing against such power. Taking small steps, speaking freely about death practices and your own views is just the thing to shed light on the darkness that our society feels about death. Do not underestimate the power of shedding light where there is none, or standing against fear. In our little acts of rebellion, true change will take place. Changing people’s perceptions and giving them a safe place to speak is a great gift of love we can share with those around us. Sometimes the action is small, and sometimes we have no idea the amount of change we might be making in people’s lives, but once we act in love and gentleness, fear recedes.

0 Comments

Gentleness in Life and Death - Green Burial

1/7/2015

1 Comment

When I sat down and thought what kind of change I wanted to see in my life this year, I kept going back to the thought of gentleness. I think I need gentleness and I think the world could do with more of it as well. I thought I might take a daring step in the direction of being gentle with myself and not get caught up with a whole lot of why something did not go the way I had hoped or wanted, but to pick myself up, acknowledge what did not work and why and start again. I will not engage in overwhelming self-blame and judgment. I will move forward and try once more. Then I thought that if I was going to try to be gentle with myself, I thought I might as well be gentle with those around me. I do not know everything going on in everyone’s life, but if it’s like mine, I know they could do with more gentleness too.

When I think of gentleness, I think of ease of movement, thought and action. I think of a ballet dancer as she moves across the floor. I know it takes great effort, but there is also a fluidity of movement and purpose. Perhaps practiced over and over again, I too can move with gentleness through life. Gentleness also makes me think of a summer breeze when the trees sway and you can smell the ground and the flowers. To me that is also gentleness. In this way, the action is a natural action, and one of singular beauty, but tender all the same. A summer breeze denotes a sense of simplicity and relaxation to me, a sense that the harshness of winter has passed and we are in the season of growth and green light. Finally when I think of gentleness, I think of love between friends especially when hardship is upon one or both. The friends join together to meet the hardship, and by doing so, make the hardship easier to manage. These are the things I want more in all aspects of my life. If I want them in life, I also want them in death.

When I think about my wishes at death, all I want is gentleness. I want my body washed, as it was when I was a babe and have essential oils applied to my skin. I want to be swaddled in a shroud for my burial. I want people to join together and tell stories, laugh, and cry. I want my body to return to the earth from whence it came, dissolving back into the earth, and nourishing what it can. I do not want the harshness offered by the death care industry. Gentleness is what green burial is all about – gentleness with the body, the family and the earth. I think sometimes we get caught by the machine of the death care industry and forget that our death is our death, and the last word we want to leave might just be a simple gentle message of love. Let us walk toward gentleness even in death, reclaiming the ways of our ancestors, and placing our choices back in our own hands where they belong. Let us be gentle with each other and nature in death, as we desire to be in life.

1 Comment

RSS Feed

Caroline Vuyadinov

I graduated from St. Vladamir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, New York with a Master of Divinity. I trained as a chaplain following graduation and worked with a wide variety of people.

When I moved to Canada, I began work in a women's halfway house in Hamilton, Ontario which worked with women in conflict with the law on a federal level. I became the program manager and loved working alongside the women, creating their plans for their reintegration back to the community. I also worked as a liaison with the parole board, parole officers and other community service providers.

Upon my return to the United States, I worked in the Death Care Industry as a Family Service Counselor, which lead me to become a green burial advocate. I co-founded Midwest Green Burial Society with Juliann Salinas. I speak to community groups and have developed practical seminars for a variety of audiences. I have been interviewed on a national podcast and was featured on a WGN spot dealing with green burial.

Living Green - Dying Green

Five Considerations in Planning a Green Burial

Speak Freely About Death: Rebel Against Fear

Gentleness in Life and Death - Green Burial

Caroline Vuyadinov

Archives

Categories