~A Note From Jodi ~ From the beginning, my intention with GRC has been to provide a useful product and to also provide useful information on all things related to green burial. My hope is that GRC will be a local hub that connects people with the resources and education they need to follow through with a meaningful end-of-life plan. In my research, I’ve found the following materials enlightening, inspiring or otherwise worthwhile to share with you.
Books
From Here to Eternity: Traveling The World to Find The Good Death. Caitlin Doughty -This was my introduction to green burial and thinking about death care in general. The book is entertaining and filled with “bizarre” stories from other cultures. An interesting, even fun, read to broaden your outlook.
Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial. Mark Harris
Reimagining Death: Stories and Practical Wisdom for Home Funerals and Green Burials. Lucinda Herring
The Denial of Death. Ernest Becker -Pulitzer Prize winning book on mortality, humanity and life.
The Green Burial Guidebook: Everything You Need to Plan an Affordable, Environmentally Friendly Burial. Elizabeth Fournier
Greening Death: Reclaiming Burial Practices & Restoring Our Tie to The Earth. Suzanne Kelly
Home Funeral Ceremonies: A Primer to Honor the Dying and the Dead with Reverence, Light-Heartedness and Grace. Donna Belk & Kateyanne Unullisi
Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever & How it Drives Civilization. Stephen Cave
Video
A Will for the Woods www.awillforthewoods.com/ 1hr.42minutes …………………… 2014 documentary following a man’s journey with green burial. This is a tear jerker. You’ll get an up close look at what a home funeral and green burial are really like.
Ted Talk – Caitlin Doughty www.ted.com/talks/caitlin_doughty 11minutes ……………. A Burial Practice That Nourishes The Planet
Green Renaissance – Returning To The Earth www.youtube.com/watch 7minutes From Green Renaissance, “On a recent trip to New Zealand, we met Laura, a wonderfully unusual undertaker who speaks passionately about rethinking death.”
Dying Green. www.amazon.com/Dying-Green 26 minutes ………………………………………. Set in the foothills of the Appalachians, this film explores one man’s vision of using green burials to conserve land. Dr. Billy Campbell, the town’s physician, and his efforts have radically changed our view of burials in the United States. Dying Green focuses on the revolutionary idea of using our own death and natural burial to fund land conservation and create wildlife preserves.
Audio
Death In The Afternoon Podcast – http://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/podcast – From their site, “Our mission is to educate our audience about death in a unique, relatable, and entertaining way; to further open up conversations about death in a death phobic culture. And sometimes (ok, all the time) let things get delightfully bizarre.”
Hidden Brain Podcast www.npr.org 50minutes – Death & The Great Beyond: How We Grapple with the Idea of Dying
Articles
* Here are a few excellent green burial related articles. For lots more, check out the GRC Facebook page.
When You Die, You’ll Probably Be Embalmed. Thank Abraham Lincoln For That https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature
Kate’s Story https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle
Brooklyn Neighborhood Comes Together To Bury A Stranger apnews.com/article
