Living Green - Dying Green

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.