Choose a Final Resting Place That is Natural & Beneficial

Thinking about and planning for when you leave this Earth can be scary, emotional, and overwhelming. The process can be daunting: there’s the wellbeing of family members to think about, the expense of it all, and dozens of options, such as where to be buried, whether you should be cremated or have a traditional burial, and specifics about the memorial service. And if you are environmentally-conscious, you may also be concerned about the effects that a traditional burial can have on the environment.
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EverAfterly may have a solution for many of these concerns — a green burial, in land that is restored and preserved to protect the natural environment and habitat. 
What is a Green Burial?

A traditional burial is where the deceased is laid to rest in a coffin made with harmful chemicals and metals; with a green burial, however, the body is laid in a biodegradable coffin or wrapped in a cloth shroud and is simply lowered into the ground. This allows for a more natural decomposition and limits the effects of pollutants on the environment and surrounding habitat. 

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Benefits of a Natural Burial

Helps Preserve Nature
Even though cemeteries often have many trees and are home to various wildlife, they are nothing compared to the land that you could call your final resting place when you choose a green burial. At EverAfterly, we offer restored and preserved land that enables wildlife and vegetation to truly thrive and grow. Plants and animals will have the freedom to make a home where they choose and live as nature intended. 

​In addition, the land used for cemeteries, which could be upward of hundreds of thousands of acres, is land where trees and animals are unable to give back to the environment. When global warming is becoming a very serious threat, the Earth needs as much natural land as possible in order to prevent future damage. The more natural space available, the more trees are able to breathe life into the air and animals are able to provide nutrients to the soil.
More Sustainable
From the food we eat to the vehicles we drive to how we are buried when we die — in order to preserve our world for future generations, we need to find ways to live more sustainably. The truth is that traditional burials use materials that can be dangerous to the Earth and can have a significant impact on valuable resources. The United States uses an immense amount of wood to build caskets each year, thousands of tons of steel, hundreds of thousands of tons of concrete for monuments, and thousands of gallons of embalming fluid. Using these materials, even though trees and the wood they produce are renewable, are harmful to the environment when used on this scale. 

Traditional cemeteries also must use irrigation water and fertilizer in order to keep them looking as pristine as they do. We have grown accustomed to a large green field with a few trees being considered natural, but it is far from what true nature could produce when left to thrive on its own. The amount of water and fertilizer it takes to keep cemeteries green and the side effects of these methods are considerable.
Less Pollution
From the material used to create a casket, such as steel, copper, bronze, and wood, to the materials used to fasten caskets together, to embalming fluids, such as formaldehyde, there are various chemicals that are being put directly into the ground with a traditional burial. Even though wood is a more natural material, a majority of wooden caskets are finished with varnishes. Metal fasteners often contain other minerals, such as zinc, copper-alloys, silver, and bronze; and these products are often spray painted, vacuum metalized, or electroplated to improve their aesthetics. These chemicals, when there are thousands of people being buried each day, add up to a lot of pollution that is being put in the ground.

Natural burials forego all of these traditional processes and materials, allowing the body to naturally return back to the Earth, with no chemicals, without any unnecessary resources pulled from the Earth, and no pollution, except possibly from medical devices or dental fillings that still remain in the body. 
No Embalming Fluids
Embalming is the process of preserving a body until the funeral and can help the body appear more natural. Embalming fluids contain a mixture of chemicals, including formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, methanol, humectants, and wetting agents. Formaldehyde and methanol make up the majority of embalming fluid. These chemicals eventually seep into the soil and into the groundwater. Every year, hundreds of thousands of gallons of embalming fluid is leaked into the ground. 

Green burials utilize cooling methods like dry ice to keep the body preserved until the funeral. Dry ice is not toxic, and while it is made from CO2, it does not produce or release carbon dioxide into the environment. This ensures that the body is preserved so that family members and loved ones can pay their respects while protecting the soil and groundwater from harmful chemicals.
Cost-Effective
The casket is often the most expensive item to purchase when conducting a traditional burial, but there are also embalming fluids, funeral fees, the burial plot itself, and other costs. The average cost of a traditional burial can be between $7,000 and $12,000. This is a considerable amount, especially when the passing of a loved one happens unexpectedly. 

A green burial consists of the material that the body is wrapped or placed in, which is considerably less than a traditional casket, the burial plot, and other memorial expenses. Without added financial stress that can come with a traditional burial, natural burials are often easier on everyone involved. 
Choose EverAfterly For a Natural Burial

The team at EverAfterly are passionate about helping to preserve the environment in any way possible. With a green burial, you are helping to preserve a natural habitat and the surrounding environment. Natural burials are a beautiful way to give back to the Earth and to help protect our planet for future generations. 

Learn more about the interment plots from EverAfterly, and contact us today to get started planning a natural, environmentally-friendly burial.