The Green Burial Guidebook: Everything You Need to Plan an Affordable, Environmentally Friendly Burial - Softcover

Fournier, Elizabeth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1608685233 ISBN 13: 9781608685233

Publisher: New World Library, 2018

Synopsis

Funeral expenses in the United States average more than $10,000. And every year conventional funerals bury millions of tons of wood, concrete, and metals, as well as millions of gallons of carcinogenic embalming fluid. There is a better way, and Elizabeth Fournier, affectionately dubbed the “Green Reaper,” walks you through it, step-by-step. She provides comprehensive and compassionate guidance, covering everything from green burial planning and home funeral basics to legal guidelines and outside-the-box options, such as burials at sea. Fournier points the way to green burial practices that consider both the environmental well-being of the planet and the economic well-being of loved ones.

About this title

About the Author

Elizabeth Fournier is the owner and operator of Cornerstone Funeral Services in Boring, Oregon, the first green funeral home in the Portland metropolitan area. She is a member of the international board of directors for North America Natural Burial and the advisory board for the Green Burial Council, the environmental certification organization setting the standards for green burial in North America.

Review

“Elizabeth Fournier is doing her part to change the way Americans bury their dead.”
— People

“The landscape of death care is shifting, and Elizabeth Fournier is a wonderful guide. She brings us gently through green burials, home funerals, and more. The Green Burial Guidebook is essential for anyone planning for a sustainable death-care experience.”
— Katrina Spade, founder of Recompose

“The Green Burial Guidebook is an engaging primer for first-timers looking to understand the fundamentals of the rapidly changing world of end-of-life and after-death care practices and possibilities. Through firsthand stories and insider savvy, Elizabeth Fournier has laid out some of the most doable, practical steps, choices, and skills you will need for planning your final affair. Thoughtful, well organized, and easy to take in.”
— Lee Webster, home funeral and green burial advocate and editor of Changing Landscapes: Exploring the Growth of Ethical, Compassionate, and Environmentally Sustainable Green Funeral Service

“Elizabeth Fournier continues to help change the landscape of death care as we know it today. A wonderful guide for the layperson and funeral professional alike, The Green Burial Guidebook is a comprehensive treasure trove of information and personal experiences. It sheds light on the cemetery industry and the grassroots movement that seeks to return after-death care to what it used to be: families lovingly caring for their deceased in a final act of kindness. Bravo!”
— Ed Bixby, president of the Green Burial Council and owner of Steelmantown Cemetery and Purissima Natural Burial Grounds

“Elizabeth Fournier introduces The Green Burial Guidebook as a ‘simple, straightforward guide,’ and it is — but it’s also much more. This book is lovely, thoughtful, and beautifully crafted, and Fournier is the gracious guide at your side. She walks you through what it takes to make a loved one’s green burial both uplifting and down-to-earth. The what, when, where, why, who, and how? She’s got them covered. Read The Green Burial Guidebook not only for all you’ll learn but for the message of hope and joy it brings.”
— Mary Woodsen, founding president of Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve and advisory board member of the Green Burial Council

“A straightforward handbook on more sustainable and meaningful death care in the United States and how to plan for it.”
— Suzanne Kelly, PhD, author of Greening Death: Reclaiming Burial Practices and Restoring Our Tie to the Earth

“Elizabeth Fournier’s Green Burial Guidebook will change the way you think about death. The book is an informative and consoling read, offering tips and tools that will endure through the years. Fournier speaks with candor and kindness, as if she were seated right beside us at our kitchen table. She teaches about the realities and sacred possibilities in green burial, offering a life-affirming guide for those who wish to have a deeper connection to the earth, to the natural processes of life and death, and to their beloveds.”
— Lisa Smartt, author of Words at the Threshold and founder of the Final Words Project

“The Green Burial Guidebook speaks to one of the deepest responsibilities of being human: caring for and burying our dead. This friendly guide will help you consider how your approach to death can be kinder to the earth and leave your community stronger.”
— Holly Pruett, life-cycle celebrant, home funeral guide, and Death Talk Project founder

“Truly everything you need to plan a green send-off. A lively, informative, and uplifting book.”
— Mark Harris, author of Grave Matters: A Journey through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial

Edition details

• Publisher: New World Library
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1608685233
• ISBN 13: 9781608685233
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 208