A veritable hymn to “from dust you came and unto dust you shall return.”
Shades of Green: An 'ecoburial' ending
More are choosing to be buried simply -- without elaborate caskets or preparations -- to lessen their final impact on the environment
By Cynthia Hubert - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, October 8, 2007
Hannah Wit once told her longtime boyfriend what should happen to her body after her death.
No toxic embalming fluid for preservation, she insisted. No fancy metal casket lined in satin. No concrete vault around her grave. No elaborate marker. Wit just wanted to disappear.
"I want to be eaten by the worms," she said.
"You can't do that," Doug Sovern remembers telling Wit.
After she died this year at age 42, Sovern, a radio reporter who lives in Oakland, did some research and was surprised to find he could honor Wit's unusual wish.
He learned he could commission a "green" burial, leaving behind nothing more than biodegradable compost to fuel plant life.
Though they are popular in the United Kingdom and other countries, green burials are just beginning to attract attention in the United States….
Wit, who committed suicide in July, is buried on a wind-swept hill, close to the ocean and Mount Tamalpais. When her loved ones arrived at the site after a short indoor memorial service, they spotted a flock of wild peacocks and a baby deer. A hawk soared overhead. Wit's beloved dog Mujo sat at attention as her body was lowered into the ground.
