How do my lifestyle choices affect—positively or negatively—the causes of justice and peace in our nation, the community of nations, and the whole of creation? How does my manner of living demonstrate a high regard for the integrity of creation? – PYM Faith and Practice, 2017

Among Quakers, burial is customarily a private event attended by families. A Memorial Meeting is typically held instead of a funeral and is scheduled at the convenience of the family. Often the Memorial Meeting is several weeks or months later; also, more than one may be held to accommodate those living at a distance.

Friends might be surprised to learn that there are practices for caring for one’s body after death that may be more aligned with our testimony of Stewardship of the environment than the more common burial practices of today.

Many Friends choose not to be embalmed on learning that all caskets and vaults eventually leak the embalming chemicals into the ground and thus into the water table. No state requires embalming, and vaults are only used for the convenience of cemeteries because they keep the ground from subsiding, making it easier to mow the grass. Some cemeteries don’t require vaults. If the cemetery does require a vault, there are some vaults that are open on the bottom to allow for the natural process of returning to the soil. 

Alternative Practices for Caring for the Dead

Friends may be heartened to know of other practices that are respectful to the environment.

• Green burials with no embalming, no casket, and no vault on land reserved for conservation. Not all states permit this.
• Care of the body at home, sometimes with the help of a “death midwife” who comes to the house to teach and assist the family in preparing the body for viewing at home or elsewhere. Not all states permit this, but in states that require funeral directors to be involved in most or all of the steps for preparation and burial, there are some funeral directors who will allow the family to assist or who agree to oversee the family’s preparations.
• Cremation, which is relatively green and widely available. In PYM, the Anna T. Jeanes Cremation Fund reimburses up to $800 of cremation costs to members of PYM meetings. 
• Myriad ways to scatter ashes, including reef burials where ashes are used to restore ocean reefs (see Grave Matters by Mark Harris).
• Homemade, inexpensive and/or more environmentally friendly coffins. Friends can find plans online for coffins, as well as kits. One young Friend found great peace in building the coffin after his father’s death. The casket does not have to be purchased at the funeral home but can be bought online, at great savings, and the funeral home must accept it.
• Terramation, or human composting, yields about one square yard of earth. In states where it is legal, the soil can be scattered or used for a memorial garden.
• Aquamation, in which water is used to accelerate the natural breakdown of the body, is legal in some states.