Canadians urged to go green even when they're gone

By Shallima Maharaj

TORONTO (Reuters) - North Americans who spend their lives reducing, reusing and recycling can keep doing their bit for the environment after they die, if Europe's "green funeral" trend makes its way across the Atlantic.

Canadian activists say green send-offs could help the dead contribute to a sustainable environment, with funerals that use shrouds or biodegradable containers and involve no embalming, no headstones and no grave linings.

"Having a green burial is one more thing a person can do to lessen the impact we're having on our environment," said Dorothy Yada of the Memorial Society of British Columbia.

"Environmental organizations should take it on as something they could add to their list of things to do ... if people asked for it more often, (the cemeteries and funeral parlors) would do it."

Bodies are typically embalmed to preserve the remains for public display at funerals. The results last about 10 days before decomposition begins again.

"Embalming does three things... It requires the body to be worked over, organs sucked out and replaced with carcinogens. Second, it requires workers to be exposed to two potentially toxic chemicals (formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde)," said Joe Sehee of the Green Burial Council in Los Angeles.

He reckons a million gallons of embalming fluid makes its way into North American soil each year.

And when bodies are cremated, mercury -- mostly from dental fillings -- can get into the atmosphere and into rivers, said Mary Woodsen, of Greensprings Natural Cemetery in New York.