Cloth Cover Caskets

Forever Green: Staying environmentally friendly from six feet under

The idea is as simple as the burial is, said Brian Flowers, cemetarian and green burial coordinator.

Bodies are returned back into a natural environment by putting the deceased into the ground in an environmentally friendly way.

A green burial doesn’t use an outer burial container or embalming.

Instead, it uses a 100 percent biodegradable covering, such as a cloth or simple casket.

A green burial costs about $4,000, which is less costly than a traditional burial, but more than cremation.

Traditional burials include dealing with funeral homes, embalming the deceased with toxic chemicals and burying them in a steel or concrete vault that can cost between $8,000 and $10,000.

A cremation costs about $1,000, but fossil fuels and mercury are released into the air during the process.

The first “green” cemetery in the United States is the Ramsey Creek Preserve in Westminser, S.C., built in 1998.

Flowers spoke about green burial on April 21 in the Viking Union.

Western senior Angela Arave attended Flowers’ speech.

Since being at Western, she has tried to be more conscious about being environmentally friendly.

“I feel like our generation is more open-minded and looking for these changes,” Arave said.

She wants a green burial, not only for environmental reasons but for coping reasons as well.

“Visiting traditional cemeteries, which have tombstones and keep ashes, are like an anchor,” Arave said. “I think being a part of a forest would make it easier for people to cope with the loss of a loved one.”

Three years ago, Flowers opened the 12th green burial site in the country at Greenacres Memorial Park in Ferndale. He said 40 people have reserved plots.

The Meadow is a 4 1/2 acre portion of Greenacres that is devoted to green burial.

It is not only a cemetery, but also a native ecological restoration project.

Native plants, such as the Western columbine, flowering currant and Western red cedar, are being introduced into The Meadow.

When bodies are buried, the bottom of the graves are lined in woodchips.

Biomass, material skimmed from the compost pile, fills 20 percent of the graves.

This inoculates the grave with microbes, oxygen and moisture, which speeds up decomposition, Flowers said.

Every burial plot comes with a tree, shrub and ground cover.

Instead of tombstones, engraved river rocks from the Stillaguamish River are placed at the graves.

Sharif is Weird: HW 55 - Culminating Project - Care of the Dead

Religion like other forms of guidance is a way to direct your life, but what happens when your life ends; how does religion play a role in the way you are cared for when you die? In Islam the rituals preformed are very similar to that of the dominant social practices, in Christianity the Church of England and the Catholic Church have views that are similar to Islam, in which they bury their dead using religious rituals, and in Judaism there is a ritualistic process in which the family prepares the dead for their funeral. They all have common themes when it comes to what type of ritualistic process they undergo when caring for their dead and all seem to incorporate their own specific beliefs, but then why do three different religions with three different beliefs have such similar practices.      In Islam rituals are preformed which seem similar to that of the dominant social practice. The loved ones bury the body in a cemetery with others (friends and distant family) attending a ceremony. It is traditionally considered haram (not permissible) to leave the deceased with a Qur’an or any sort of other materials as it is considered a waste of money because of the fact that it benefits nobody and throwing dirt on objects like the Qur’an (as you would do when burying a body) is a definite no, it is considered a large insult to Allah. Death, according to the Qur'an, is not the end of man's life; it only opens the door to another, a higher form of life: " We have ordained death among you and We are not to be overcome, that We may change your state and make you grow into what you know not." Qur'an 56: 60 - 61. Interviewing an imam, I discovered that although caring for the dead is basically the same as the dominant social practice. The ritual of caring for the dead is much different simply because of the religious aspect. A big aspect of this ritual is this idea of paradise (heaven) vs. hell. According to the imam, the point of life is to do enough good to reach paradise in the after-life. He specifically said that "Those who are blessed with nearness (to AlProxy-Connection: keep-alive h) in gardens of bliss.  They will be sitting on thrones woven with gold reclining on them facing each other.  They will be served in rounds by Immortal boys with bowls and jugs and a goblet of pure wine.  Which will neither cause them to suffer headache, nor will they be intoxicated.

Dictionary of occupational titles, with O*NET(tm) definitions

The Wood-worker

Youth's Casket

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United States Circuit Courts of Appeals reports, with key-number annotations ... v. 1-171 [1891-1919].