Changing Landscapes: Exploring the growth of ethical, compassionate, and environmentally sustainable green funeral practices

While the funeral is one of mankind’s oldest rituals, funeral practices are not exempt from adaptation and change. Today’s families are instinctively seeking more environmentally responsible body care and disposition options, more hands-on participation in the funeral period, regardless of where they live or how much money they have to spend. The self-imposed policies and standard practices espoused by the funeral industry are being challenged on every level and for every reason by every generation, from aging Baby Boomers’ quest for equality, affordability, and authenticity, right on down to Millennials’ pragmatic, tech savvy entrepreneurial spirit. How are funeral professionals responding to the rapidly growing, persistent demand for green products and services? Will the industry be able to pivot and produce nimbly enough to save the profession from rising any higher on the endangered careers list? What does it mean to be an innovator in the field of green funeral service from the inside? And how can greenwashing be avoided? These writers provide a different glimpse into the world of funeral service than the standard mortuary fare. Many of them have devoted their lives to envisioning a more just, eco-responsible, and honorable way to care for our dead, while others are acting as the canaries in the coal mine, adopting green practices early and parenting them as they develop. All the thought leaders in this collection have one central theme in common: finding ways to honor our commitment to ethical and compassionate funeral practices that nourish the relationships between families and providers, the profession and the public, and human beings and the Earth.