"Design cemeteries for the living, not just the dead."
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 12.12.07
“The Victorians were said to have invented death in Britain…” - so says Steve Rose of The Guardian. While the statement may seem absurd at first, Rose is referring to the grand, opulent cemeteries of the Victorian era that were as much public parks as they were places of mourning. His article laments the country's later move towards bland, depressing design, and the falling into disrepair of famous cemeteries such as Arnos Vale in Bristol or London’s Apney Park. However, it seems the art of creating great burial places is not yet, ahem, dead, with new, innovative designs for crematoriums, chapels and cemeteries cropping up, and a corresponding movement to restore Victorian graveyards to their former architectural glory, while protecting their status as havens of biodiversity:
Cabe, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, last month entered the debate, with the plea: "Design cemeteries for the living, not just the dead." Burial grounds account for up to half of all green space in some urban boroughs, Cabe pointed out, and with better planning, they could become pleasant places to visit for non-mourners, too.
Rose goes on to reference the growing trend in woodland and eco-burials, describing self-recycling as the “last word in environmental responsibility.” Of course, such thoughts are hardly new to regular readers of TreeHugger – we’ve previously covered various aspects of greening the end of your life, including composting your own corpse, using a jute coffin, eco-friendly funeral pyres and sustainably-oriented burial companies. Heck, on our travels in the design community we’ve even seen cupboards that double up as coffins for that day when you no longer need storage space. To quote Rose’s article once more, “No matter where we choose to be laid to rest, [...] good design could benefit us all - dead or alive.” Amen to that.
Image: Woodland Burial Park, Colney, UK.::The Guardian::via site visit::
Thank goodness someone is thinking outside the pine box. Cemetaries have always seemed like a waste. A lot of lawn care goes into them - i.e. petro chemical fetalizers, 'cides and gas powered equipment, not to mention open space that is rather difficult to enjoy a family picnic.
YOU'RE DEAD FOR CHRIST'S SAKE! Do we really need an elaborate burial and so forth? Heck, even Jesus got up and walked away from that silly idea.
I have to agree with the bland designs. I've seen a lot of them on here. I just don't like the modern stuff. That is beautiful though.
I have to agree with the bland designs. I've seen a lot of them on here. I just don't like the modern stuff. That is beautiful though.
I spent many years (seasonally) working in a cemetery here in Canada, and frankly ... it's such a scam. And ecologically damaging.
Of course, I'm grateful for the existence of cemeteries, in principle, for the open 'green' space - without 'em, we'd have more sprawling subdivisions.
However, the motorized maintenance is excessive ... and needlessly so. To a great extent, cemeteries pay very low and don't even establish any sense of professionalism. So, any new hire (often young people) learn that the company 'doesn't give a shit'. So, they're more interested in driving around on the tractors and 'go-carts' ... and they get away with it because the managers don't know any better.
Wastefulness is extreme.
And have any of you readers ever seen the blue-grey soil that is dug up? Hmmmmm. Oh yeah ... all the chemicals (formaldehyde, ... ) leaching out of the bodies. Decades, centuries ... (more?) of soil and groundwater pollution for the sake of a few days of 'viewing'.
And get this ... cemeteries (here, anyway) don't pay property taxes! Nice little gig, eh?
Ever thought about the silliness of the concrete vaults? Aren't there better uses for the tons of concrete.
There's more going on than meets the eye.
Gorgeous building. Very soothing.
We need to start embracing the concept of cremation. Give everyone in the family some ash, no more driving to some central place to visit (how many people actually visit the dead?) wasting precious fuel. This is an outdated practice that takes up entirely too much land, and the funeral directors have way too much markup on this racket
We fully support incorporating sustainable design into existing products and we will surely keep you updated on the latest green-tech breakthroughs and trends on our blog www.mygreenelement.com. And it’s great to report how sustainability has finally become a serious issue everywhere from corporate boardrooms to the campaign trail.
However, it would be a real shame if the green movement digresses by seeming absurd, elitist or simply irrelevant to the lives of anyone not living on their laptops.
Seriously Treehugger.com--sustainable graves?, get your heads out of the sand.
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Author's comment:
Thanks for the input, but I'm not sure what is absurd, irrelevent or elitist about this subject. I'd say finding sustainable ways to end our lives is a hugely important issue - it's one service that we will ALL need in one form or another after all. And in a time when many of us are searching for meaning in our lives, incorporating our values into how our remains are buried (or composted or burnt or whatever) seems to me a crucial subject.
Having just recently suffered I bereavement, I can comment on how valuable a cemetery is, for simply having that central place to go to, when you want to be alone to mourn. We recently cremated my mother, but with all of us living very mobile lives, an urn of ashes could have become a family "issue". So, toyotaboy, cremation is good, yes, but in and of itself does not deal with the human need for a 'sacred space' in which to mourn our dead.
I like the vision of that sacred space being an ornamental organic park/woodland. But D is right, the formaldehyde and other chemicals would not be good for this. And cremation simply releases those nasties into the atmosphere.
Personally I really like the idea of "promession" - freeze-drying the body in liquid nitrogen and then turning it into a powder.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2051139.ece
As the bereaved family you get the remains in a small urn much the same as cremation, but no noxious gases would be released to the biosphere. I don't think many facilities exist for this in the world, but I wish it had been an option for us.
Toyotaboy -- I have to say, it's strange that you say nobody ever visits their loved ones' gravesites, then imply that if they did it would be a waste of fuel. What does cremation use a lot of? Fairy dust?
Wrap me in a cloth, dump me in a pit, and plant a tree over it. Actually place me gently in the pit.
Cremation = BAD. Burning human bodies is about the least green thing you can do. We're compost, for crying out loud.
Whether or not graveyards are a waste of space, is a matter of debate and depends entirely on your philosophy. If you want graveyards, though, then you should at least invest the time and money into making them green. It's a waste of space to put people in a big wooden box and then put a huge piece of concrete on top. It's the 21st century, we know the dead won't wake up and eat the livign.
The least you could do to save space, is bury people vertically.
All cemetaries should really be converted to parks. I'd feel much more comfortable knowing that I'm feeding a nice patch of grass, and that maybe some dog is peeing against that tree on top of me.
If we burn the bodies for fuel, we'd be set. Maybe press all the oil out and make diesel. THEN compost them.
"Wrap me in a cloth, dump me in a pit, and plant a tree over it. Actually place me gently in the pit."
Heck, you can skip the cloth with me, and I'll be dead so gently won't be required either.
This is fantastic. I actually enjoy visiting centuries old graveyards (New Orleans comes quickly to mind). However, when I die I'm going to be put into the tissue digester and used as fertilizer. :-)
ps: "Do we really need an elaborate burial and so forth? Heck, even Jesus got up and walked away from that silly idea." AMEN.
THANK GOODNESS. The land is for the living. I agree with the previous comment...even Jesus walked away. Stack us up, cremate us when we've gone...don't waste space from the living! Consecration isn't in the ground for cryin' out loud...it's in the life LIVED...the good deeds BEFORE we go. When we're gone...cadavers, headstones...it's wasted space that could be put to better use. Make THAT our last good deed.
Any sound-minded person would realize that green burials are the way to go. Hopefully as the environmental movement grows, they will be allowed everywhere. They don't pollute the soil or ground water with embalming chemicals. And when you think about it, why are we placed in elaborate coffins when they just get buried in the ground?
"YOU'RE DEAD FOR CHRIST'S SAKE! Do we really need an elaborate burial and so forth? Heck, even Jesus got up and walked away from that silly idea."
a big "amen!" to that, anonymous... the whole funeral and burial schmear is one of humankind's biggest stupidities... if all the tons of money spent on people after they're dead was used for helping the living who are in great need, this world would be a much happier, healthier place...
even the bible says 'ashes to ashes and dust to dust'... not 'bodies to silk-lined, lead-covered coffins that last forever and flesh and bone to expensively preserved, by earth and life-ruining chemicals'!
maia
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