‘Green burials’ can change our relationship with death — and help the Earth

By Mallory McDuff in The Washington Post, December 17, 2021

When the first vehicle arrived, I raised my right arm with what I hoped was a blend of authority and empathy. I tried to look serious but not somber as I directed cars to the gravel parking lot of Carolina Memorial Sanctuary in Mills River, N.C., a short drive from the college where I teach environmental education.

As a 55-year-old mother, teacher and now parking attendant, I’d been eager to volunteer at this conservation cemetery, which protects the land from development in perpetuity through easements in partnership with a local land trust. This was part of my one-year journey to revise my final wishes—what my daughters called my “death plan”—with climate change and community in mind. Read more >>