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‘Green Right to the Grave’: Environmentalist‘s ’Eco-Caskets’ Gaining Traction

Would you believe enough steel to recreate the Golden Gate Bridge and enough concrete to construct a highway from New York City to Detroit are buried each year — with bodies that is? According to a California woman, CBS Local in San Francisco reports, the environmental cost of burying one’s dead comes at a high price.

Jane Hillhouse has a solution to help offset this cost though. While traditional caskets can cost upwards of a couple thousand dollars, Hillhouse’s wicker-like caskets only cost around $1,000. They’re also less resource intensive.

(Related: You can now liquify your body for a ‘greener’ burial)

Final Footprint Makes Eco Friendly Caskets for Natural Burials

(Photo: Final Footprint)

“Why not be buried in a natural state where you can go back to the earth?” Hillhouse, the owner of Final Footprint, asked CBS Local.

The biodegradable coffins by Final Footprint are made from rattan, willow, bamboo, sea grass, banana leaf or wood, materials which are also sustainably raised.

Final Footprint Makes Eco Friendly Caskets for Natural Burials

(Photo: Final Footprint)

The business for greener burials is looking up, as Final Footprint cites customers doubling in the last couple years. Here’s the CBS account of one woman who chose an ecological burial for her mother:

The eco-friendly aspect is what appealed to Janet Cobb of Berkeley, when the time came to arrange her mother’s funeral.

“She grew up in Nebraska – Monroe, Nebraska – Farm country,” Cobb remembered, pointing out her mother in an old family photo.

Nothing seemed more appropriate for this one-time farm girl’s final resting place than a ecologically friendly casket. Cobb chose sea grass.

“It came in a muslin case and it was absolutely beautiful,” she said.

[...]

“They said, ‘Now what about the casket?’,” Cobb Recalled. “I said, ‘Well, I have it in my car.’ And I thought really he was going to faint.”

Cobb also elected to go without embalming.

“The idea of not putting formaldehyde and all these things into the ground – I mean, I don’t know who’s thinking that we’re going to be getting up to dance or something,” she added with a wry smile.

Watch the report:

Think cremation may be the way to go? According to Hillhouse, the energy it takes to complete that process and chemicals that are released into the environment aren’t ecological either.

For those questioning the legality of these more eco-friendly practices, on the Final Footprint website Hillhouse has included that it is legal to prepare your own loved one’s body for burial, as well as drive it to its final resting place.

Learn more about Final Footprint here.

Comments (78)

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  • ColoradoMaverick
    Posted on June 14, 2012 at 6:58am

    Yes, it’s called a pine box.

    Report Post » ColoradoMaverick  
    • turkey13
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 9:48am

      What idiots! If you really want to be green have the body burned. Thats what I told my kids to do and then put the ashes in the river that runs thru the ranch. Like all environmentlist they don’t read the labels on that designer botteled water they drink. Most say from some water resevoir. I guess they think the companies just hold up the bottle and it fills from the air. When all these new bodies decompose guess where those fluides will seep into?

      Report Post »  
    • AvengerK
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 11:03am

      Absolutely…every green nazi should jump into one of these wicker baskets immediately. It’s important to compost… It’s for Gaia after all….

      Report Post »  
    • G-WHIZ
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 11:37am

      The American “indian” tribes did it…they put the dead ona wodden support and burned him/her into ashes, which blew away with the winds(mostly). The ashs fed the soil, which fed the plants, which fed the animals, which fed the American-Indians…The Circle of Life continued.
      We, the enlightened, put “deaddie” in a metal tupperware which keeps him fresh for thousands of years. Billions of this progressive ideollogy, not being returned to the soil from whense they came. This makes coffin-makers and funeral-directors rich and makes progressives “feel-good“ that ”deaddie” is still with us. This has been with us since the first coffin was invented, and it was necessarily woven into “religion”. In certain parts of the world they(thousands of them)float to the surface durring big storms. They are stacked in the ground like bricks to save space. They are stacked several feet high in places where the “watertable” is too-high, above-ground.

      Report Post »  
    • Balpit
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 12:18pm

      Biodegradable caskets? Isn’t the purpose of a casket to protect the body inside? Don’t these people think what happens to the body if the casket biodegrades?

      If you’re going to use a casket that rots away, you might as well be cremated.

      Report Post »  
    • tuppenceworth
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 1:09pm

      In some places religion dictates your body is placed up high on a tower or pillar as food for the vultures – a Zoroastrian tradition (if I recall and spelled that correctly) that returns one to nature. Dear Earth lover, would you consider such a thing?
      This would be almost comical if I were not a huge opponent of all things wicker, and now must live in fear that my wife might choose one of these horrid crates for my final irony! How many plants had to die? Big Wicker – that’s why!

      Report Post »  
  • Allnamestaken
    Posted on June 14, 2012 at 6:53am

    Add your comments

    Report Post »  
    • RepubliCorp
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 7:52am

      I hope their sales go off the scales after Nov. (death by dehydration from all the crying)

      Report Post » RepubliCorp  
    • 13th Imam
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 11:03am

      The Barry presidency will be buried in a corrugated casket come November.

      Report Post » 13th Imam  
  • Ron Staiger
    Posted on June 14, 2012 at 6:45am

    They could do the earth’s population an even greater favor by not waiting for death to be buried.

    Report Post »  
  • MRMANN
    Posted on June 14, 2012 at 5:49am

    Instead, why not just don a birka?

    Report Post »  
    • historyguy48
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 6:17am

      Years ago there was the ultimate in Green Movies and it even starred Charlton Heston!
      The movie was Soylent Green! Now they knew how to protect Mother Gia!

      Report Post » historyguy48  
    • G-WHIZ
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 11:40am

      …then jump inda hole and pull the doit around and over yourself.

      Report Post »  
  • Godzgrl247
    Posted on June 14, 2012 at 5:41am

    I have toyed with the idea of cremation simply for the reason that you can see sometimes miles and miles of graveyards. I have told my husband in the past that I wish they had biodegradeable coffins. (Now, I wish I had patented my idea.) I hope I’m able to just go off into the woods one day when it is my time to die and die there. The alternative would be something like these coffins.

    Report Post » Godzgrl247  
    • txflmaca
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 9:29am

      There is an option. There are groups that do forensic studies for the benefit of criminal investigation. You can donate your body to them and they put you in the woods and study how the body decomposes. Sorry, I don’t remember the name of the group.

      Report Post »  
    • FoxholeAtheist
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 10:46am

      You mean the body farm?

      Report Post » FoxholeAtheist  
  • Dougral Supports Israel
    Posted on June 14, 2012 at 5:22am

    I don’t have a problem with this. The atoms which make up my body should go back into the ecosystem when I am done with them. Its part of the cycle of life.

    Report Post »  
  • spikebu
    Posted on June 14, 2012 at 4:52am

    I live on an acre in the suburbs. It is illegal for us to bury our dog in our own backyard. We broke the law when we buried our Chocolate Lab, who dropped from a massive stroke. Our Golden Retriever, on the other hand, had a series of small strokes. His body was very healthy, he just couldn’t move it. We nursed him for a month and he got worse. We finally had to take him to be put down. This is how we learned it is illegal to bury your dog. We were not allowed to bring our Golden home to bury. That’s not right.

    Report Post »  
    • JQCitizen
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 7:23am

      That amazes me. Our Black Lab is in our backyard too. What is this world coming to, when you cannot bury your family pet in an acre of land?

      Are these idiots even aware that wild animals probably die, and decompose anywhere, ( maybe even in the woods behind our property line)?

      These busybodies need to take up a hobby!

      Report Post »  
    • G-WHIZ
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 11:43am

      Would that chocolat-lab be great for a coco-tree?

      Report Post »  
    • G-WHIZ
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 11:46am

      They have a hobby…writing all those millions of stupid and redundant REGULATIONS such as these, to feed the UNDERTAKERS LOBBY.

      Report Post »  
  • Git-R-Done
    Posted on June 14, 2012 at 3:28am

    This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read in my life and it made me laugh hysterically.

    Report Post »  
    • MizuNo
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 5:02am

      Meh…I have seen a lot worse…AND if their marketing gains traction in the “GREEN” community could be a nice buisness opportunity. Create a few jobs making them.

      Report Post »  
    • CABERNETQHS
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 8:04am

      They can bury me in a wicker hamper for all I care. This casket does seem easier to get out of if there is a zombie appocolypse.

      Report Post »  
  • BeingThere
    Posted on June 14, 2012 at 2:26am

    I’d like to be buried in 200 gallons of oil :-)

    Report Post » BeingThere  
    • antiprogressive
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 3:22am

      I always liked the idea of a plain pine box.
      No concrete.
      No metal.
      Dissolve back into the earth and be eaten by worms.

      Plant a bunch of berry vines over me and everyone can pick the berries
      and get drunk ON ME every year.

      Report Post »  
    • JQCitizen
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 7:35am

      Antiprogressive:

      I LOVE the way you think:) Ha, that was a good one!!!

      Report Post »  
  • Andy
    Posted on June 14, 2012 at 1:43am

    Uhhhh…..arn’t regular caskets made of wood? Not eco-friendly enough for the extreme I guess. As long as they don’t tell me what casket to use, I don’t care. Oh wait, with eco caskets, the bugs will get in quicker finish off these losers. :)

    Report Post » Andy  
  • Skrewedretiree
    Posted on June 14, 2012 at 1:19am

    Getting wrapped in canvas and buried at sea is an alternative. The Navy has been doing that for centuries. All is eaten away by micro-organisms, etc.

    Cremation is also good, but pollutes the air.

    However: There is another alternative. Ever see the Movie “Soylent Green”? I mean, what do you really know about the so-called “all beef patties” on a burger? They don’t call it “mystery meat” for nothing. Think I’m kidding? Remember: the inspectors work for the Government. You know…The same Government we’ve all came to know and love……

    Report Post » Skrewedretiree  
  • Laus Deo
    Posted on June 14, 2012 at 12:35am

    ‘Smart’ cars are Eco-caskets.

    Report Post » Laus Deo  
    • rickc34
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 12:59am

      Cremation is very popular due to cost savings about 750.00 average compared to 7500.00 the only thing bones do not burn so they have to be ground up and you can have them shipped via USPS.

      Report Post »  
  • no1jyd
    Posted on June 14, 2012 at 12:27am

    Here is a story for you that is related to this subject and not to far from me. http://localnews8.live.ib-prod.com/video/Lemhi-County-couple-God-said-to-build-green-cemetery/-/461276/14764374/-/a1qqjc/-/index.html

    Report Post »  
  • BOMUSTGO
    Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:59pm

    Add your comments

    Report Post » BOMUSTGO  
    • CatB
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 12:14am

      If they were really being “enviromental” they would be creamated and used for fertilizer … no headstone — nothing .. not any indication that they had ever been here at all .. no land needed!

      Report Post »  
    • Bryan B
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 12:40am

      When I was a kid, I remember they (the authorities) found some old guy that no one knew, standing petrified in a corn field. So they took him down and put him in a glass display case at the county court house. He was there there for quite a few years. I guess you could call that going green…….

      Report Post » Bryan B  
  • TJexcite
    Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:53pm

    My hometown just allocated enough land for a new graveyard that at current rates will have space for 100 years. Now that is planning ahead, not what type of box one is in.

    Report Post » TJexcite  
  • javasport
    Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:52pm

    I saw something similar in that horrible movie, Waterworld

    Report Post »  
  • Diane TX
    Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:41pm

    My whole family chooses cremation instead of slow decomposition in the ground. No burial plot is needed and you can “free” the ashes according to the predeclared will of the deceased. You can also keep the ashes in a urn to remember your loved one.

    Report Post »  
    • TXPilot
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 12:04am

      When I go, I wanted to be laid out in the sun for a few days, til the stink and splatter factor was really high, then dumped at my ex-wife’s front door…. but nooooooooo, they tell me this isn’t “legal”…..now, it’s on to “plan B”, which consists of me being cremated and shot out of a giant cannon, like Hunter S. Thompson……..but, maybe I could at least be aimed at someone I disliked while alive???…yes Charles, I’m talking about you!!…:D

      Report Post » TXPilot  
  • lukerw
    Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:40pm

    Yea… Soylent… GREEN!

    Report Post » lukerw  
    • AvengerK
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 11:05am

      Don’t worry..given the greenies‘ hatred of mankind I’m waiting for them to start recyclying the dead for food.

      Report Post »  
  • Bobj_1960
    Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:37pm

    Two solutions that are more viable and more eco-friendly
    1) burial at sea
    2) skeletons stripped by carrion beetles

    Report Post » Bobj_1960  
  • Psychosis
    Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:30pm

    ive got a better idea

    use liberals as an alternative fuel source

    you could finally get a lightbulb to go on over their heads ( or “ with” their heads )

    Report Post » Psychosis  
    • rickc34
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 12:52am

      Well if you believe in the Bible we are using liberals for fossil fuel right now they came from Noahs time. So yeah just line them up bury them and instant crude. I think you got something psyc.

      Report Post »  
    • G-WHIZ
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 11:55am

      Aaah, Yessss. Theypoloticians) produce a plethora of firtilizer whilst alive(?) and then…to be continued afterwards.

      Report Post »  
  • blackyb
    Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:20pm

    My brother has built several of these and keeps giving them away. he may have kept one for himself and his wife. They are just as nice as those bought. He may have those in his shed. I have not asked him, but if I think of it I will. He just does this once in awhile for a woodworking project.

    Report Post » blackyb  
  • MrButcher
    Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:13pm

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyrCjDqU–Q

    why not include this

    Report Post » MrButcher  
  • blackyb
    Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:12pm

    People do not want this nasty mess of death as run off in their water supplys, freaks. You need more than dirt and a wicker basket to be buried in. There are animals out there who will dig your azz up and strow your bones around. These people think they have made a big discovery, but that has been discovered years ago that it likely does not work. These people are loons.

    Report Post » blackyb  
    • Wolf
      Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:57pm

      Sorry, BlackyB- contrary to what you see in movies, wild animals don’t bother digging up carcasses burried six feet under, or even less. Earth decomposes the body parts and the smell is filtered by the dirt. If someone is buried under a small pile of rocks, the smell will attract animals, but few will push the rocks aside. Too, earth is a perfect filter and there‘s nothing in the decomposing body that will get into the water supply if it’s burried 100 feet or more from the water. And no, rainfall will not wash it into the water, either.

      Report Post »  
    • Dismayed Veteran
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 11:02am

      BlackB

      6 ft is the standard for a reason. No scent to attract animals.

      As for myself, I hope I have enough strength to go for one last backpacking trip in the Rockies. If not, cremation and spread of my ashes in the mountains.

      Report Post » Dismayed Veteran  
  • BOMUSTGO
    Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:12pm

    Al Gore needs to volunteer first!

    Report Post » BOMUSTGO  
  • Captain Crunch
    Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:09pm

    I’ll build my own.

    Report Post »  
    • RJJinGadsden
      Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:13pm

      I was just thinking the same thing. Just get the wood before it goes up any higher.

      Report Post » RJJinGadsden  
    • blackyb
      Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:17pm

      Just make sure it meet specificatons of the place where you will be buried. There is some kind of liner in graves in some places. There are so many people who fill these graves there has to be protection of cities from the remains of those who are buried because drainage and water supplies, etc. These people are living in la la land to think they are doing something that will obviously against city and county codes. People do make their own caskets. It is a good idea for they are expensive and if done by the codes, etc., there is nothing wrong with it at all. Those thinking they can bury in a picnic basket have some big surprises.

      Report Post » blackyb  
    • Wolf
      Posted on June 14, 2012 at 12:05am

      Gaaaaa, Blackie- where do you get all this misinformation?

      Report Post »  
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