“Elizabeth Fournier is doing her part to change the way Americans bury their dead.”
— People

“The landscape of death care is shifting, and Elizabeth Fournier is a wonderful guide. She brings us gently through green burials, home funerals, and more. The Green Burial Guidebook is essential for anyone planning for a sustainable death-care experience.”
— Katrina Spade, founder of Recompose

“The Green Burial Guidebook is an engaging primer for first-timers looking to understand the fundamentals of the rapidly changing world of end-of-life and after-death care practices and possibilities. Through firsthand stories and insider savvy, Elizabeth Fournier has laid out some of the most doable, practical steps, choices, and skills you will need for planning your final affair. Thoughtful, well organized, and easy to take in.”
— Lee Webster, home funeral and green burial advocate and editor of Changing Landscapes: Exploring the Growth of Ethical, Compassionate, and Environmentally Sustainable Green Funeral Service

“Elizabeth Fournier continues to help change the landscape of death care as we know it today. A wonderful guide for the layperson and funeral professional alike, The Green Burial Guidebook is a comprehensive treasure trove of information and personal experiences. It sheds light on the cemetery industry and the grassroots movement that seeks to return after-death care to what it used to be: families lovingly caring for their deceased in a final act of kindness. Bravo!”
— Ed Bixby, president of the Green Burial Council and owner of Steelmantown Cemetery and Purissima Natural Burial Grounds

“Elizabeth Fournier introduces The Green Burial Guidebook as a ‘simple, straightforward guide,’ and it is — but it’s also much more. This book is lovely, thoughtful, and beautifully crafted, and Fournier is the gracious guide at your side. She walks you through what it takes to make a loved one’s green burial both uplifting and down-to-earth. The what, when, where, why, who, and how? She’s got them covered. Read The Green Burial Guidebook not only for all you’ll learn but for the message of hope and joy it brings.”
— Mary Woodsen, founding president of Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve and advisory board member of the Green Burial Council

“A straightforward handbook on more sustainable and meaningful death care in the United States and how to plan for it.”
— Suzanne Kelly, PhD, author of Greening Death: Reclaiming Burial Practices and Restoring Our Tie to the Earth

“Elizabeth Fournier’s Green Burial Guidebook will change the way you think about death. The book is an informative and consoling read, offering tips and tools that will endure through the years. Fournier speaks with candor and kindness, as if she were seated right beside us at our kitchen table. She teaches about the realities and sacred possibilities in green burial, offering a life-affirming guide for those who wish to have a deeper connection to the earth, to the natural processes of life and death, and to their beloveds.”
— Lisa Smartt, author of Words at the Threshold and founder of the Final Words Project

“The Green Burial Guidebook speaks to one of the deepest responsibilities of being human: caring for and burying our dead. This friendly guide will help you consider how your approach to death can be kinder to the earth and leave your community stronger.”
— Holly Pruett, life-cycle celebrant, home funeral guide, and Death Talk Project founder

“Truly everything you need to plan a green send-off. A lively, informative, and uplifting book.”
— Mark Harris, author of Grave Matters: A Journey through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial

Elizabeth Fournier is the owner and operator of Cornerstone Funeral Services in Boring, Oregon, the first green funeral home in the Portland metropolitan area. She is a member of the international board of directors for North America Natural Burial and the advisory board for the Green Burial Council, the environmental certification organization setting the standards for green burial in North America.

SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION

Preface

What Is Green Burial

A Brief History

The Eco-Statistics

But is Green Burial Legal?

SECTION TWO: GETTING STARTED

Why I Wrote This Book

How to Use This Book

Talking the Talk

The Fundamentals

Greenwashing

SECTION THREE: WHAT DOES A GREEN BURIAL LOOKS LIKE?

A Green Burial Glimpse

My First Green Burial

Basic Green Burial Terms

But What about Cremation? Isn't It Green?

SECTION FOUR: PUTTING THE PLAN ON PAPER

How Much Does a Green Burial Cost?

What is a Home Funeral?

What is Your Vision?

Funeral Wish List

SECTION FIVE: LEGALITIES

Do I Need a Funeral Director?

Appointing an Individual to Handle Arrangements

Order of the Next of Kin

How to Appoint an Agent

Durable Power of Attorney Document

Legal Paperwork

Vital Statistics Form

How to Obtain a Home Funeral Packet

SECTION SIX: D-I-Y BURIAL

It Takes a Village

Death Cafe

What is a Death Midwife?

What is a Death Care Consultant?

SECTION SEVEN: HOW TO HANDLE THE BODY

A Few Words of Precaution

Washing

Green Embalming

Dressing

Refrigeration

Dry Ice

Transportation

SECTION EIGHT: NATURAL BURIAL CASKET

How to Make a Green Burial Wood Casket

Shelves for Life

SECTION NINE: GREEN BURIAL CONTAINERS

Green Burial Shrouds

Shrouding Board?

Cardboard Casket

Infinity Burial Suit

Infinity Burial Shroud

Kinkaraco Shrouds

SECTION TEN: GREEN BURIAL GROUNDS

What Qualifies as a Green Burial Ground?

Three Kinds of Green Burial Cemeteries

List of Green Burial Grounds by State and Province

SECTION ELEVEN: BACKYARD BURIAL

Considerations

Legalities

Zoning In

Surveying and Measuring

Tools Needed for Digging Deep

Going Underground

Lowering the Body

Troubleshooting Unseen Issues

SECTION TWELVE: GREEN BURIALS OF THE FAMOUS

Joey Feek

Lynn Redgrave

Andy Griffith

Cesar Chavez

A Will for the Woods Movie

SECTION THIRTEEN: OTHER GREEN DISPOSITION OPTIONS

Burial at Sea

Body Farm

Religion and Green Burial

Scene of a Native American Burial

SECTION FOURTEEN: GREEN BURIAL IN OTHER CULTURES

Upright (Vertical) Burial

Human Composting ? Promessa

Capsula Mundi

Hanging Coffins

Tibetan Sky Burials

Turning of the Bones

SECTION FIFTEEN: GREENING YOUR CREMAINS

Crestone End-of-Life Project

Alkaline Hydrolysis

Dryer Lint Urns

Eternal Reefs

Bio Urn

Let Your Love Grow

Rest in Pieces

Sustainable Art

SECTION SIXTEEN: GREENING YOUR LAST HURRAH

Sustainable Mourning Meals

Hold the Flowers

Send a Tree

Seed Cards

Memory Cards

Carpooling

SECTION SEVENTEEN: CONCLUSION

Resources

Index

Photo Credits