Being green is increasing in popularity and area environmental stewards can now rest easier knowing even after they pass their footprint will be a little smaller.
The Albany Roman Catholic Diocese has opened the Capital District’s first “natural burial” ground at the Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery in Niskayuna. Natural burials, devoid of the careful primping shown to typical gravesites, are blossoming as a green alternative to traditional burials because there is less impact on the environment. The cemetery’s new Kateri Meadow Natural Burial Preserve will serve as a more “wild” area for the green burials.
The 20,000-square-foot burial ground is named after Kateri Tekakwitha, an Auriesville native who will be canonized as the first Native American saint in October. Albany Roman Catholic Diocese Bishop Howard Hubbard will formally dedicate the new burial ground in early September, but burials are permitted now.
Although a Delmar couple recently purchased the first plots at the preserve while pre-planning their funeral arrangements, Family Services Manager of Albany Diocesan Cemeteries Maureen McGuinness said interest in green burials is slowly gaining ground.
“Many Catholics who strive to be good environmental stewards … they may want to make a statement at their death and this gives them the opportunity,” she said. “There are changes in demographics and baby boomers have been more concerned about the environment than maybe their predecessors have been.”
For the past month, she said there has been at least one call daily on the natural burial option. She also stressed there is nothing wrong with traditional burials.
“This is of interest to some people. It is obviously not going to be of interest to everyone,” she said.
The neatly trimmed and traditional burial plots are a stark contrast to the natural burial ground, with a mostly untrimmed and unmaintained appearance. Pesticides and fertilizers will not be used on the burial preserve. There is currently a line of small stones separating the natural ground from the maintained lawn.
“This will just be mowed down in the fall and that’s it,” McGuinness said. “It is not going to be a neat, manicured look.”
Wildflower seeds indigenous to the region were strewn across the preserve, including various daises, coneflower, calliopsis flower and fittingly forget-me-nots. By the fall, she hopes the meadows will hold a lush appearance.
“It is all things you would find naturally growing here had everything been undisturbed,” said McGuinness. “It is also a forever wild area behind this area.”
In addition to the nearby preserve, the Niskayuna cemetery was chosen because it was thought to be centrally located in the Capital District and has room for expansion, according to McGuinness. The 100-acre cemetery holds 260 natural plots.
Only cloth burial shrouds, willow baskets or metal-free pine boxes are allowed in the preserve, as opposed to a traditional casket where metal or other chemicals are used. Burial vaults are also not permitted in the burial preserve. Embalming isn’t required and if done would require the use of naturally occurring substances as opposed to chemicals.
“In certain religions, a burial shroud is always used,” she said. “For mainstream Christians, this is a giant leap, but Jesus was buried in a shroud, so for some people it is getting back to the roots of Christianity.”
Also, a traditional upright or flush monument, or gravestone, isn’t permitted in the area. Memorials are limited to natural granite blocks supplied by the cemetery, which can have the name of the deceased and dates of birth and death sand blasted into it.
“There is a lot less energy expended when you are not having a monument or marker shipped in and you are not bringing equipment in and out to do that,” she said.
The plots for natural burials are bigger than traditional spaces, with a site at the preserve totaling $1,500, which includes the granite marker. Other sites at the cemetery range from $750 to $1,150, McGuinness said, but those would require the additional costs of a burial vault and the marker or monument. Every burial includes an interment fee to open and close the site.
The average cost of a funeral in 2009, including purchasing a vault, was $7,755, according to the National Funeral Directors Association. A natural burial could be seen as a less expansive alternative.
More people have started talking about what they would like for their burial arrangements, she said, which can be uncomfortable for some people to discuss.
“The publicity has been good for people talking about something that a lot of people don’t want to talk about,” she said. “It is always better to purchase space before needing it … people when they pre-purchase have a little more energy because they are not grieving and they can look at a little more options.”
McGuinness said a natural burial is also very symbolic of Catholics’ belief of life after death. At the burial, wildflower seeds will be handed out, so the seeds can be scattered at the first visit.
“When a child comes, they are going to see new life growing … and that is a teachable moment for parents to talk about the faith,” she said.
