Since true green burials are designed for the remains to go back to the earth as quickly as possible, tombs and embalming are not used and therefore the burials are not permitted in most cemeteries.
“We’ve talked about (green burials) but there are a lot of things that are involved,” Mescher explained. “We’d have to have a special section.”
Although true green funerals are not available at local cemeteries, some variations are an option.
Like many burial grounds, Woodside Cemetery and Arboretum in Middletown can do a variation on the green burial that members of the conservative Jewish faith have long performed.
Fred Wehr, cemetery general manager, said the burial includes a casket placed on bare ground that’s then covered with a vault with no bottom. It allows the remains to return to the earth more quickly and still guards against collapse.
“We require containers because it protects our employees and other visitors,” Wehr said.
Rick Meade, superintendent of Calvary Cemetery, said traditional values of residents in the Dayton and Cincinnati area have not yet brought a lot of demand for the alternative burials.
“We’re just not hearing it,” Meade said. “We do have the capacity. We can work with people.”
Cremations are also an option for the environmentaly conscious. Woodland Cemetery performs green cremations for clients including the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Yellow Springs.
Donna Cottrell, the coordinator of the church’s end of life committee, said many “socially conscious” members chose the process because it is friendly to both the environment and the spirit.
The dead are cleaned and placed in a cardboard box by church members and then taken to Woodland’s crematorium. The process cost $260, significantly less than most services.
“People deal with the process better because we are friends,” Cottrell said. “Plus they don’t have the expense.” Cottrell said she would welcome a local cemetery that would allow green burials and believes it would be popular.
Founders of the Foxfield Preserve near Wilmont, Ohio’s first green cemetery, hope Cottrell’s right. After nine years of work creating the 43 acre burial grounds as a way of helping to fund the educational Wilderness Center, the preserve’s founders are planning a seminar in September for others to learn about green burials.
“It’s a great way for conserving land while also generating funds for our wilderness center,” said Jennifer Quinn, who works at the preserve. They’ve been open less than a year and have buried six on their site and sold 35 pre-need sites to customers as far away as Columbus.
“For them it just makes sense,” Quinn said of their cliental. “It’s returning to the earth. Dust to dust.”
Gordon Maupin, the Wilderness Center’s director, said he got the idea for the green cemetery nearly a decade ago, but it took years to convince his board of directors that it was a feasible project.
“It takes people a bit of a mental journey,” Maupin said. “It’s been wonderful for the community. For families, visiting the urban cemetery is a real chore. If you combine it with a nature walk, it’s a different kind of experience.”
Barbara Trick, office manager of the Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm in Dayton, said although her facilities educational mission is similar to Maupin’s center, green burials are just not a possibility.
“We just don’t have the acreage for it,” she said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2342 or cmagan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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