The loss of a loved one is never easy and something most families dread preparing for. Saying your final farewells is difficult enough without going through all the arrangements for a funeral and burial or cremation. The toll it takes on those left to make the arrangements is more than many people can bear. However, there is a way in which you can send your loved one off to the peace they deserve with a minimal amount of stress for everyone involved. These are often called green funerals and there are various ideas to choose from. Perhaps we should begin by talking about what, exactly, a green funeral is.
The Concept of a Green Funeral
With so much emphasis being placed on a green lifestyle or a green economy, most people are aware of the fact that the focus is on conserving natural resources in various ways. Whilst you understand that the primary consideration in most cases is in using lesser amounts of fossil fuels — which take tens of thousands of years to replenish — most often you would think of a green funeral as one in which there are no services and funeral processions to a cemetery. Some families, therefore, plan a direct cremation in which the body of the deceased loved one is brought directly to the crematorium or funeral home and cremated or buried from there. However, that is just the very first way in which we tend to think of a green funeral. Funeral or cremation services do not take place in an assembly of people gathered to pay their final farewells.
Beyond Conservation of Natural Resources
Another aspect of a green funeral is that it offers low-cost funeral arrangements. Since there will be no final farewells in which a body is laid out in a funeral parlour, the expense is far less than it would be if a funeral home with staff on duty are there to help family and friends pay their last respects. Quite often simple creations are offered so that the body of the departed loved one is taken directly from the hospital where their passing is documented.
So then, beyond the conservation of natural resources, direct cremations are a way of saving money which many families simply don’t have at this point in their lives. Some have already paid enormous amounts during times when their loved one needed additional care and so they simply don’t have the financial resources to plan a huge funeral at this time. No matter where you are in the UK, you can ask where you can find a direct cremation near me, and arrangements can be made quickly and securely online.
Options for a Green Funeral
This is not to say that it will be an easy time for those who are left behind. It will still be a particularly difficult time emotionally for anyone left to make the preparations. Even though a pure cremation is easier to plan than a funeral with services requiring contacting other friends and loved ones, it is still going to be difficult being in charge of those final farewells.
While there may be no gathering of family and friends for a funeral service, some choose to offer other ways to say goodbye. There are online funeral memory books where anyone can post their final respects. These memory books stay posted for very long periods of time so that anyone learning of the passing months or even years down the road will have a place to post a memory and say their own personal goodbye.
Alternative Funeral Services
This is something which many families were literally forced to do during the months when Covid literally forced a shutdown of most places for indoor gatherings. Restaurants, entertainment venues and shops were not the only places where people couldn’t gather indoors. Even churches were asked not to hold weekend services or funerals, so they began hosting services online.
Not only is it possible to have a low-cost cremation but it is also possible to have services hosted online. For some faiths this would mean they couldn’t receive Communion, but they could have an online Mass or assembly for funeral services. This also is considered a green funeral in that no one needs to travel to and from a church, cemetery, or funeral home. In other words, it’s a way to have that all-important prayer service without travelling outside the home.
A Few Tips for Planning Green Funerals
Quite often cremations are preferable for the above-mentioned reasons but also because of the limited amount of land still available for traditional burials. When planning a green funeral, this is something you may wish to consider. You can ask for “cremations near me” in which the ashes are either buried or scattered close enough for loved ones to visit on special days.
Since many people do like to visit burial grounds from time to time throughout the year, you can ask about locations close to the place where your loved one lived. Bear in mind that a biodegradable urn can be buried with much less harm to the ecology and taking up far less room. This makes it possible to meet the requirements of a green funeral whilst also preparing a physical location that can be visited for moments of prayer and respect from those left behind.
Funeral Arrangements in a Digital Society
This brings to mind another aspect of a green funeral. In this digital world in which we live, few people send mail to the extent they once did. Now we notify our family and friends via email and social sites like Facebook and Twitter. Alongside posting an obituary with the local online newspaper, you could ask for donations to the charity of your choice in lieu of flowers. Since there will often be no funeral services in a physical location, those who would otherwise send floral arrangements could donate a few pounds to a charity that was near and dear to the recently departed loved one you are paying your final respects to.
Even If Conservation Isn’t a Priority
Many families still aren’t in tune with the need to go green in our world, so conservation isn’t something they’ve thought about until now. Your family may understand the dangers of global warming and climate change, but others may not understand just how important conservation is to you. Even so, a green funeral can be something that benefits everyone involved, even if only for personal reasons.
In the current state of the global economy, a cheap cremation may hit closer to home than the concept of a green funeral. This is something everyone will understand and if presented in that way, many would be willing to make a pledge to a charity they had previously been unaware of. This would especially be the case if it was a charity supported by the recently departed.
A Few Words for Those Making Their Own Final Arrangements
Traditionally, a great number of people have been making their own final arrangements in their Last Will and Testament. Sometimes they spell out exactly what they would like for their funeral, where they are to be buried and even if they would prefer pure cremations over a burial. Some people simply don’t like the thought of being buried and so they make that stipulation sometimes even years before their demise.
If you are thinking about carrying final expense insurance, this is something you could also plan for at the very same time. It is your right to plan for your own final farewell in the way in which you would like to be transitioned from this life to the next. Whether you want a funeral mass or religious service or none whatsoever, it will always be your choice. The only thing you need to be aware of is that the choice of your executor is important. You would need to make absolutely certain you name someone who can be trusted to carry out your wishes as opposed to their own.
The choice of planning your own green funeral is really in your hands. Simply lay out exactly how you would like things to be and then document them well in your will or as a stipulation in your insurance cover. There is no reason to worry that your final wishes won’t be honoured. You can choose to be buried in a way that will not affect the ecosphere or you can opt for a cremation with your ashes being scattered how and where you desire.
While you may be trying to save your loved ones from the sorrow and stress of planning your final farewell, you also have a right to pass on in a way that reassures you that your final wishes will be respected. We are, after all, paying our last respects so if this is something you would like to plan for yourself, it is your right to do so. In the end, you can plan your own green funeral and expect your wishes to be carried out.