As the niece of an aging but amazing 21st-century aunt, I’m having more conversations than I ever imagined about her eventual demise. It can be such a tough subject but my Aunt Ruth has always been a little different. in fact, her entire life as an independent woman has inspired me.
Years ago, my aunt handled the cremation of two of her older sisters. That experience, along with her own long-time environmental awareness, got us talking the other day about what she wanted to happen after she passed away, especially since we are her only living relatives and Aunt Ruth clearly has an opinion on the subject (and lots of other subjects for that matter).
Aunt Ruth was born in 1922 but she lives in the present. She knows more about global warming and her carbon footprint than any other lady in her exercise class at the senior center. She recently asked me to “look on the computer” and find her information on more natural burial choices than just basic cremation.
According to the Green Burial Council, every year America buries thousands of gallons of embalming fluid — enough steel to rebuild the Golden Gate Bridge and consumes millions of feet of timber to bury our dead. AARP, which advocates for aging Americans, polled its members in 2007 and one-fifth of respondents said they were interested in something more eco-friendly — just like my Aunt Ruth.
As I searched online, not only did I find the Neptune Society, the same organization that she had used years earlier, was still offering people the chance to have the ashes of loved ones spread across the ocean, but I found Aunt Ruth had a lot more choices now than ever before.
For example, two groups combine the rebuilding of coral reefs with the building of a living memory. Eternal Reefs Inc. and Neptune Memorial Reef offer memorialization of a loved one by creating a permanent environmental living legacy. The two groups’ unique solution is to add the ashes to concrete and then the finished structure is then lowered to the ocean floor. Both have created unusual solutions for rehabilitating our marine environment while offering a more natural burial at sea.
Do you prefer the idea of butterflies and wildflowers marking your final resting place rather than swimming schools of fishes? Fernwood in Northern California uses biodegradable coffins and bodies are prepared without embalming fluid. It also offers natural fiber shrouds. At Forever Fernwood, grave sites are identified by their global position coordinates rather than a headstone. You also won’t find any vaults — only trees.
Once again my Auth Ruth, through her own awareness and courage to talk about anything, got us to not only discuss the tough subject of her demise but inspired me not to be afraid of what is part of life. I will also mention she motivated me to uncover some pretty amazing burial alternatives. Thanks Aunt Ruth — and I think you’re going to love having little fish swim around you all day.
Photo: Colma, Calif., cemetery courtesy of Sharon Castellanos.
