We operate two beautiful natural burial grounds, one at Usk, the other at Cardiff, and as part of the application process in both cases we had to conduct extensive hydrogeological studies and assessments into the risk of possible groundwater contamination. We also had to meet demanding requirements set by the highways authority with regard to access.
I was invited to exhibit our natural burial grounds in Lampeter yesterday, at the opening of a woodland walk, and was impressed to see how many people were keen to see a green burial amenity nearer to them. There is a growing movement towards this sustainable way of disposing of our remains, and support should be given to a development of this kind in the right location.

Hello,

I've been following the residential response to proposed natural burial grounds in both the US and the UK for some time.

According to Ken West, a professional cemeterian and bereavement services manager, and founder of the first woodland burial site in Carlisle, (now retired), sites are often met with this sort of opposition from locals.

The main arguments seem to be potential congestion and water contamination issues. An examination of prior complaints and rows over the establishment of dozens of other now functioning sites throughout the UK suggests that neither one seems to bear out as a concern down the road.

Once the cemetery is actually functioning, the traffic is rarely as great as is imagined in the modest "farmer's field" type sites that this one seems to be, and water issues are surely much more serious for any light industry putting solvents into the drinking system or a livestock raising business putting nitrates into the groundwater.

The deceased are not inherently contaminated - if they were, they'd not leave the hospital without proper signage, and they'd likely be required to be cremated. Even so, most diseases that are in human bodies need living bodies to survive, and this is a harmful myth that health experts could dispel with a bit of work. Groundwater contamination is much more likely from industry than from natural decomposition, once basic rules of proximity are followed.

Natural elements like bacteria from a body do not leach that readily through the soil unless they are highly concentrated and overwhelm the soil's ability to break them down. If the bacteria even manage to survive outside a living human host (again, extremely rare), most of them quickly become "dinner" for the soil microbes and will not be given up without a fight! Inert and toxic ingredients, however, like plastics, PCBs, and chemicals, DO leech through the soil system - because no self-respecting soil microbe wants to eat them! (that's humor, but I still don't know if my US sense of it translates over to your side!)

Consequently, opposition does seem like it might come back to a couple of factors: 1) a few neighbors with fears or superstitions that the public health authorities haven't done enough to address and 2) other interests that might not want to see the site for some other reason and thus seeding some disaffection and concern.

Additionally, not everyone may have fully explored their own potential self-interest - there are a lot of small cottage industries that will certainly benefit from the side-business such a site could bring, including natural floral tributes, bed and breakfasts, receptions, petrol sales, musical offerings - even crafting natural coffins from local materials. Everyone dies, and why shouldn't your community be able to participate in fostering an honorable return for your own families and loved ones. Or, better yet, invite others who'd never quite been able to leave the city for good to come "live in the country" for the rest of their "lives" - you'd certainly have some of the quietest city folk for neighbors anyone could ever hope for!

Having not seen the site, I'm not sure that it's correctly chosen - not every ground IS suitable for natural burial, and individuals who desire the option for their communities would do well to really assess whether their nearby residents will benefit or not.

Wendy Pratt, who began Tarn Moor at Skipton, is a wonderful example of someone who began the project for her own farm as a form of income diversication and a way to "do good" and then chose another route to the same end.

After quite a bit of work evaluating her farm's site, she and her husband determined that their land was actually NOT suitable for what she and the community really needed, but she'd become so enamored of the idea of local natural burial that she went to the town of Skipton and suggested the project idea to them, and asked about land that the community had that could be turned toward that purpose.

After all the proper concerns were raised and addressed, Tarn Moor now operates for the benefit of the citizens of Skipton, and it's one of the most beautiful woodland burial opportunities a community could have. People come from far and wide to be buried there. Residents get a discount off the price. Non-residents pay a surcharge. It's created a lot of new business for the big old pub next door, just after the funeral when the beer needs to lubricate the tears. The sheep do the grass cutting. I'm sure the local bagpiper has more work than he did.

I encourage the citizens and the land-owners to both be flexible. The reasons the opposition gives for why the site is not appropriate probably have little to do with water or congestion in the long run, but they may be right - the site may not be the best one in the area for the intended purpose.

A natural burial site, in my opinion (after reviewing quite a few and coming to some sense of the value for our respective nations in creating them) should be in service to its local community. If a private landowner is fortunate enough to be sitting on an ideal place, then that is doubly good - but the chances of finding landowners with open minds and the property that is a match for the community's needs may be small.

Consequently, I think that examples like Wendy Pratt's could be studied and learned from. Ken West is also a good one to cast his eye on a project and help identify if its proper or not. Someone might want to give him a call.

Few communities may have landowners as generous as Wendy Pratt - it's not an easy thing to set out on building a dream on your land only to find it's actually better built down the road. But in the longest run, I'm sure that cooperative neighbors with clear ideas will see the sense of the project, if it can be found (i.e., if it's truly needed) and that persistence will out.

By the way, Mrs. Pratt now runs the site and I'd say that, in the long run, she might just tell you that it worked out best for all parties involved.

Good luck to you all, as it's a wonderful tradition to return to your children and the UK has inspired me to engage in communicating the value of it to my own country. I look forward to learning of a woodland burial site somewhere near your area soon.


in trees,

Cynthia Beal

Founder - the Natural Burial Company,
USA
http://www.naturalbu
rialcompany.com

Author, "Be a Tree, the Natural Burial Guide for Turning Yourself into a Forest" - due winter/spring 2009
online at http://www.beatree.c
om

Natural Burial Around the World

The modern concept of natural burial began in the UK in 1993 and has since spread across the globe. According the Centre for Natural Burial, http://naturalburial

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