Want to Launch a Hybrid Green Burial Ground?

Link to the recording of the Forum video call
Hybrid Cemetery FAQ
So You Want to Start a Green Burial Cemetery
Environmental Factors and Decomposition Rates of Pig Carcasses in Semi-natural Setting in Southern Illinois by Jessica Bookwalter

Advocating for Legislative Change in Green Burial

Link to the recording of the Forum call video
The Law of Human Remains by Tanya Marsh
Cemetery Law: The Common Law of Burying Grounds in the United States by Tanya Marsh
​More People Want a Green Burial But Cemetery Law Hasn't Caught Up by Alex Brown, Pew Charitable Trusts, November 20, 2019; reprinted by the Washington Post, November 30, 2019

Natural Burial Guidelines in the Time of Pandemic

Links to some resources to learn more and to help write temporary guidelines in cemeteries:

• Link to our Forum call video
• What is a Home Funeral? How to care for sick or deceased loved ones at home during coronavirus pandemic
• by Khaleda Rahman, Newsweek, March 26, 2020 
• Home Funeral Guides and Pandemic Care by Lee Webster et al, March 24, 2020 (link to video is in the Newsweek article)
• Follow New York's Death Care Workers, by Dave Mosher, Business Insider, March 31, 2020
• "I'm a Funeral Director: The pandemic has made saying goodbye painfully lonely", by Char Barrett, 
• Washington Post, April 1, 2020
• Funerals in the Age of Coronavirus, Caitlyn Doughty
• Conservation Burial Guidelines During the Covid-19 Pandemic, Conservation Burial Alliance
• CDC Projections
• ​CDC Body Care and Funeral Guidelines
• NFDA Guidelines

Spreading the Word: How to Be an Effective Advocate in Your Community

Materials and Tools
The Green Burial Council webpage Educational Tools is the place to find links to:

• Flyers and Handouts
• Slide Presentation
• Helpful Tips for Giving Green Burial Presentations
• Rack Card PDF
• Bumper Sticker PDFs
• Infographics

Being Prepared
We recommend reading as much as you can—the Education tab on your GBC webpage browser will yield lots of areas of exploration. Community advocates need to be ready to answer questions from the public. Here are the top questions we get,  and their best answers!
​FAQs: Green Burial Defined
FAQs: Conservation Burial FAQs
​FAQs: Hybrid Burial FAQs
Information on other disposition options

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Where to Speak?

• Librairies
• Faith Communities
• Senior Centers and Facilities
• Schools and Universities
• Hospices and Hospitals
• Community Centers
• Professional Organizations
• Civic Groups such as Rotary
• Conservation Groups
• Elder Law Firms

How to Get the Gig?

• Distribute your posters, flyers, rack cards
• Send letters of introduction to organizations
• Print and hand out business cards
• Visit the places listed and make personal contact
• Contact people you know who can help
• Introduce yourself in social media groups
• Approach adult education organizations like OSHER
• Contact your local community college
• Reserve your local library, community center for a talk
• Talk with your pastor, minister, rabbi, or other faith leader

Faith Communities and Green Burial

The Louisville Institute is sponsoring an initiative called "A Practical Theology of Corpse Care" that seeks to answer the question, “…How can clergy and congregations (re)engage in pastoral praxis in care for the dead? ” Learn more about the project and who is involved here.

Bury Me Green, a sermon from Rev. Bill Gupton, October 27, 2013, Heritage Unitarian Universalist Church, Cincinnati, OH

Mor(t)al Remains: Pastoral Theology and Corpse Care by the Reverend Cody J. Sanders, The Journal of Pastoral Theology, July 9, 2019

Ministry on death and dying teaches people how to plan for the end of life by Phillip Martin, Faith and Leadership, January 7, 2020
 
To Lie Down in Green Pastures: How the Catholic Church is leading the way in green burial by Lee Webster discusses Pope Francis' encyclical on nature and the environment that brought Catholic doctrine and the fast-moving trend toward green burial in Catholic cemeteries into alignment.