Most people are presented with two options when it comes to how to deal with their bodies when someone dies: burial and cremation.
People often assume cremation is the most environmentally friendly thing they can do with their body after they die, but that’s not the case.
Both conventional burial and cremation have harmful and lasting environmental impacts.
If you’re thinking about whether or not vault burial, cremation, or a natural, green burial is right for you, we encourage you to read on and learn more about the impacts of each so you can know more about your options.
Conventional Burial vs. Cremation
Let’s start at the beginning: conventional vault burial is the most harmful way to dispose of a body when it comes to the environment. According to the Green Burial Council the conventional funeral industry buries enough metal caskets in the ground to build the Golden Gate Bridge each year. That kind of information can make anyone wince about the environmental impacts of these actions, and swiftly turn towards a “better” and cheaper option: cremation. But is cremation actually a better alternative when it comes to being ecologically conscious?
A survey conducted by the National Funeral Directors Association in 2019 showed many people choose cremation instead of vault burial due to the “perceived environmental impact.” However, the truth is, cremation isn’t good for the environment. It’s not even close.
In many ways, cremation is a better option for the environment than conventional vault burial, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best option available.The cremation process requires a lot of fuel that burns for hours. It’s estimated that a single cremation can release 532lbs of CO2 gas into the air. In 2023, more than 60% of people chose cremation (that’s 2.2 million) as a way to dispose of their body. The end result of this constant burning is that year alone 585,200 tons of carbon dioxide was dumped into our atmosphere.
As the cremation rate grows, we’ll see that number grow every year. This kind of emission increases the catastrophes of the climate crisis we are currently facing. With 78% percent of people projected to choose cremation by 2040, we can only expect cremation’s environmental impacts to become more dangerous and devastating.
Not only is the cremation process harmful to the environment, but cremated remains themselves are inherently toxic to plants and the surrounding ecosystem. After the body has been burned what is left are large bone fragments, which are then put through a machine that grinds them down—these are the “ashes” we are familiar with and know. However, there’s very little ash in cremated remains at all. The reality is the cremation process strips our bodies of almost all the nutrients it contains, and what’s left is highly concentrated with sodium and has an incredibly high pH (approximately 11). So, not only is the act of cremation harmful to the environment, but what is left of our bodies after the process is too.
Cremation vs. Green Burial
So, how does the impact from cremation differ from green burial? Green burial, otherwise known as natural burial, is the burial of a body with no embalming fluids, no vault or outer burial container, and only biodegradable burial products. With a natural burial there’s no need or use for the metal caskets, concrete vaults, or all the fossil fuels to burn the body. None of those materials have to get used or buried in the ground. It’s a simpler, greener way to go.
Larkspur actually takes that idea a step further with conservation burial. Not only does a person reduce their impact through eliminating unnecessary materials and resources, they actually create a positive impact by protecting land from development and supporting its ecological stewardship. If what’s most meaningful to you is reducing your carbon footprint, there’s nothing better than conservation burial.
While cremation requires fossil fuels to burn and releases harmful air pollutants, natural burial actually gives nutrients right back to the earth.
When you choose a green burial in a conservation setting like Larkspur, you are choosing a lasting way to care for the environment. When you choose a conservation burial at Larkspur, you are choosing to protect the earth so generations from now will be able to experience the wild and free land you see today. Because of our commitment to restore and become one with the landscape, we take green burial a step further to forever protect the earth we all love and call home.
If you’d like to learn more about green burial at Larkspur, please reach out contact us! We’d love to answer any questions you might have about how a natural burial might be meaningful for you.