Green options within city of Prince George

I was pleased to speak with Frane, the caretaker of the Prince George cemetery. For the last year they have been developing a proposal for a green burial. This includes no embalming, no metal caskets, and no concrete liner. The possibility of being buried in a shroud without a casket is also being explored. I was impressed with the progressive thinking of the city when it comes to this issue knowing how environmentally damaging traditional funeral practices can be. The hope is that this may become a real option within the next year for Prince George residences. I will continue to monitor this progress and provide updates.

"Green funeral what is that?"

This quote from the funeral director continued with him stating that he has been in the industry for over 25 years and he does not have a clue about this business practice. It is quite clear to me why the industry that is trying to maintain its monopoly on death care is not motivated to become more environmentally conscious. They are the ones pouring hundreds of thousands of gallons of chemicals into the soil so that our loved ones "look so peaceful almost like their sleeping". They are the ones along with the owners of cemeteries who are using hundreds of thousands of pounds of concrete to place cement boxes over the overpriced metal or wooden boxes to ensure that their isn't a divot in the manicured lawns. The same funeral homes that now promote flush monuments so that the mower doesn't even have to slow down. For more on this topic see
http://www.naturaldeath.org.uk/ or http://www.glendalenaturepreserve.org/home_funeral.pdf
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/consumers/eco-burials.html
I can only hope that in time there will be more environmentally friendly options for people within British Columbia. For a discussion on this issue local to BC see http://www.memorialsocietybc.org/c/g/

"pine caskets are not cheap"

I had the opportunity to have a discussion with a funeral director and check out their wares. I was surprised by several statements that he made. The reason that the statement in the title of this posting is so outrageous is that I live in Prince George. The funeral director had the odasity to tell me this when we live right smack in the middle of 10 million hectares of beetle killed pine trees. The loggers are clear cutting as fast as they can to salvage the wood before it becomes unmarketable. I wondered why this large business was providing me with this statement. The answer to my question came a few statements later when I asked the funeral director where he gets his caskets. He initially stated that they come out of Edmonton, but when I pushed the issue further he acknowledged that they are manufactured in the good ol' US of A. So instead of supporting local businesses and providing value added products the bulk of our money for caskets gets exported (along with our raw logs).

Did I mention that the "affordable" boxes were either cardboard, plywood or mostly particle board. The particle board boxes looked shiny and had real wood on the lid, however this beauty was only skin deep. This is very much like the funeral industry itself, on the surface it is managed by business people in suits with fancy limousine's, interiors with plenty of gold coloured trim. If you look closer and examine the substance beneath the flair you realize that there is not much there. It provides a rationalization for the multinational company to overcharge for its services.

My Grandmother's box part II

Just before Christmas I had the opportunity to put my planning into action when my mom asked me to build my grandmother's box. She had died peacefully surrounded by her family after a 2 day hospital stay. My uncle Ernie was stuck in Manitoba so he gave me the go ahead to build the casket.

The foot board was a 2" thick piece of pine that was full diameter cut of a log that I did with a chain saw. We left the outside of the log as is apart from some hand sanding. The beetle channels were visible in the wood

Sides were just over 1" and then planed down to 7/8". They were nicely stained blue at the edges.


I lined the box with aromatic cedar that gave off a beatiful smell


Picture of me with the box





This is what the box looked like prior to final finishing. It was decided that it would be nice to provide an opportunity for some of the extended family to finish the box.


As you can see several family members were happy to put some time completing the finishing sanding and applying the Danish Oil.







The lid was a three piece tongue and grove design that I had seen from another casket maker in the states. The board in the middle had a piece of Russian Oak that was raised and symbolically represented a tree trunk (being darker in color) The board fit snuggly and provided a key which closed the box withouit any metal hardware.

Here you can see the lid design with the branches symbolizing her 6 children. They will be inserted at the grave side service.




Quilt on finished box