Green Burials...consider your environmental impact on the future

The hazards of embalming and amount of resources buried annually:


Formaldehyde embalming is not required by law. Though, with most traditional funerals, a bereaved family is led to believe that embalming with formaldehyde is in fact needed or required-nothing could be further from the truth.

Not only is formaldehyde highly toxic it is also a known carcinogen-recognized by the W.H.O, OSHA and the State of California. It poses a danger to those involved in the Funeral industry, embalmers, and is highly toxic to the environment and groundwater-as the process of embalming washes the chemical right down the drain as waste water.

Here are some facts about what is buried annually in the U.S. alone:

827,000 gallons of embalming fluid
1.5 million tons of reinforced concrete
1 million tons of steel
2,700 tons of copper and bronze
30 million board feet of hardwood
2000 tons concrete vaults
14 tons steel vaults


A green funeral, for those that prefer a connection with the earth while reducing ones environmental impact, may be a more meaningful departure. The cost of a green funeral, compared to a traditional funeral, is a fraction of the cost.

More to come......