All the RAve - the RAnts of RA

Is an eco-friendly burial for you?

Have you caught Forecast Earth by The Weather Channel? It's an interesting relatively new show that – even as a non-environmentalist, I find informative and helpful. When the show first aired, I was expecting to hear more hype than substance but what I found was well researched, common sense segments that made me think. Not only was the show about how to preserve the earth – as God intended (not that they ever once mentioned God); the show could actually help me save money. I don't know anyone who doesn't like to save money.

I saved the Forecast Earth episode entitled Solar Power and the Amish to our DVR, which by the way in my opinion, no home should be without – no home with a television that is. The story I was most interested in was about an environmentally friendly cemetery. The informative piece about the Ramsey Creek Preserve was very helpful to me on a personal level.

My mother wants to be cremated, a practice I detest because of references in the bible and the representation of fire and it's uses. My father's entire family is buried at Sharon Hollow Cemetery, near Stockbridge, MI. A simple, yet quiet, dignified place, where I always felt welcome to come and lumber about, while talking to my brother, daddy and the others.

I recall how expensive daddy's funeral was and the thought of putting my family through a huge expense like that is hard to fathom. Who can afford life insurance these days?

Ramsey Creek Preserve was everything good a funeral and death should be. It actually made me feel good about leaving this earth to meet my maker. Instead of embalming fluid, vaults and metal caskets, bodies are laid to rest in a natural state, in a nature park, surrounded by birds, trees, flowing water, and even music on occasion. What a beautiful place for a body to spend eternity.

In doing my research on natural burials, I located the Fernwood Cemetery in Marin County. The Fernwood property is 32 acres with part of it set aside for natural burial. They have sold one hundred plots in the natural burial area and have already had fifty natural burials. Natural burial appeals to many different people and faiths. Cassity and Campbell both report having worked with religious people to whom natural burial appeals because they say it is more closely tied to how burials were done historically.

This is an idea that just makes good sense. It's a win-win situation all the way around. A natural burial makes good financial sense; it renews the land, provides more natural spaces and won't fill up anytime soon. I would love to read comments on this subject for those who have buried someone using this method or are considering it.

Related Articles

• Memorial Ecosystems
• Ramsey Creek Preserve
• Honey Creek Woodlands
• Forecast Earth
• Mark Harris Discusses A "Natural Way of Burial"

Labels: burial cost, Forecast Earth, Ramsey Creek Preserve, The Weather Channel