Eternally green
Ecological burial offers final gesture to protect the environment

Tom Crow owns and runs Compassion Mortuary in Grants, NM. A former Gallup resident, Crow bought the mortuary in 2004. Crow said that his business offers burials for as little as $1,300 and he recommends that his clients make their final arrangements based on their budgetary limitations. [Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent]

Mike Marino
Cibola County Bureau

Compassion Mortuary in Grants offers a bio-degradeable casket as one of their options for around $2,400. The funeral home also does not embalm the body so that the burial is more environmentally friendly and there is no risk of the chemicals used leeching into the ground. [Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent]

GRANTS — New Mexico is one of the most environmentally friendly states in the country.

A proliferation of wind farms to generate power, enough sunshine to encourage solar power utilization, and the distribution of low-watt CFL light bulbs through the schools like the program instituted by the Continental Divide Electric Co-op in Cibola County are a few examples.

Now the state is stepping forward on the eco stage with a unique new program of recycling a product that is not normally thought of as recyclable — human remains.

The concern involves the placing of metal coffins into the ground that don’t biodegrade, and the leaching of embalming fluids into the soil and water sources. New Mexico is on the frontlines of eco-burial, a process that does not involve expensive coffins or poisonous fluids, and it is cheaper than the traditional portrait of human burial.

New Mexico, North Carolina and South Carolina are the first states to have established licensed eco-burial grounds that do not allow burial in a casket, but prefer that the deceased be buried in a plain cloth shroud. The shroud is also less costly than a high-end casket. The shroud, along with the remains, will decompose in time and take its place in the ecosystem. By not having the body embalmed, the fear of poison leaching into the soil is non-existent. There are a few licensed eco-burial cemeteries opening up around the country in other states, and the cost for burial on average is anywhere between $2,400 to $3,000, and includes custom headstones and site selection.

The funeral business in the country is always accused of playing on the emotions of the dearly departed’s loved ones, but Tommy Crow, owner of Compassion Mortuary in Grants, said few individuals are aware that a form of eco-burial is and has always been available by local mortuaries under the title of basic burial or immediate burial.

”It’s very similar to the eco-burial formula, has been around a lot longer and is also cost-effective,” he said.

“In the basic or immediate burial system, there is no embalming and you can be buried in a simple shroud if the cemetery allows it. We haven’t had any shroud burials that I can remember but you can be buried without embalming and laid to rest in an inexpensive fiberboard coffin, made of cardboard, and the costs can run as low as $1,300 for a shroud burial and $2,400 for a fiberboard coffin burial,” he said. That includes the service and transportation to the cemetery. Embalming is not a pre-requisite burial requirement in any of the fifty states.

Brian Taylor of the Green Party in Boulder, Colo., is in agreement with the concept of eco-burial.

“Whether it’s called eco-burial or basic burial, I believe it is a good thing. We can’t always do everything possible to do our part to work with the planet, but this is a pretty good idea. The need for coffins and such is more an emotional thing, but just a plain box or blanket to get wrapped in is pretty cool. Besides, you know the old saying, ‘From dust to dust,’” he said.

When contacted, the Veterans Administration in Washington, which administers veterans’ cemeteries across the country, said it does not allow for a burial in a shroud, but they will accept human remains in an inexpensive, yet dignified wood or fiberboard casket that is not costly, nor does the body have to be embalmed. That low price, combined with the free burial site for veterans and their spouses, will keep the costs down, the burial simple and environmentally friendly.