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ways than one, a natural burial can be a much more personal goodbye than we as a society might be used to. Families often take part in burying their dead or lowering them into the grave. Nothing throughout the process is considered hands-off or unorthodox.

Natural burial is simply a natural, beautiful expression of letting go, helping friends and family move from grief and darkness to celebration.

History

The modern concept of natural burial began in the United Kingdom in 1993 and has since spread across the globe.

Since the first site opened in Carlisle less than two decades ago a further 214 have sprung up across the UK. Research by the Natural Death Centre predicts that by 2010, 12% of the 180,000 burials that take place each year in the UK will be in woodland or natural settings. "The rate of growth in natural burial is exponential," said Mike Jarvis, of the Natural Death Centre. "It's infinitely faster than the growth of crematoria 100 years ago."

In the U.S. there are sites in South Carolina, Florida, New York and groups in several other states including Colorado, California, Washington and Wisconsin have efforts underway to establish green cemeteries that center on land preservation.

According the Centre for Natural Burial, there are now several hundred natural burial grounds in the United Kingdom and half a dozen sites across the USA, with others planned in Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and even China.

Learn more about this author, Mike Salisbury.
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