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for more than 33 years
Are you curious about eco-friendly funeral and burial choices? Join our us for a live & interactive discussion with Shari Haber, Founder of Great Goodbyes and discover how to make a positive impact on the environment in your final wishes.
Powerpoint from program: POSITIVE AGING GB'24).pptx.pdf
Chat Transcript
12:06:58 From Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : https://www.mygreatgoodbye.com/
12:12:45 From Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : Green Burial Council. This is the place to learn more about green burial and how to find certified cemetery stewards, funeral professionals, and funerary product sellers who share the commitment to create more sustainable after-death options for you, your community, and the planet. https://www.greenburialcouncil.org/
12:19:25 From c conley to Hosts and panelists : With green burial, are fillings and other toxins or medical devices removed first? Or how are they handled so they don’t go into the environment?
12:21:15 From Lisa Morris : My friend was buried on Monday at a green burial site in Maryland. She was just wrapped in a shroud and everyone scattered flowers around her. It was beautiful
12:22:44 From Elva Roy : Be aware of the difference between a "direct" cremation and a "regular" cremation. Often mortuaries will embalm a body that is to be cremated and all those chemicals go up the smokestack and contaminate the nearby ground. No embalming with a "direct" cremation (saves at least a thousand dollars compared to a "regular" cremation. For a "direct cremation, mortuary will pick up the body, refrigerate it (in TX 48 hours must pass between time of death and cremation in case law enforcement must get involved), return cremains to family in a heavy plastic bag inside a cardboard box.
12:24:33 From Elva Roy : The "pink sludge" byproduct of alkaline hydrolysis is washed down the drain into our municipal water supply.
12:25:13 From Terri Shaw : I called Congressional Cemetery to ask about green burial and was told I had to make an upfront payment of several thousand dollars tobuythe plot
12:26:02 From Lisa Morris : There is a place in Maryland called Serenity Ridge that you can check into that does green burial
12:26:19 From Veronica Scheers : All cemeteries require upfront payment of the plot
12:26:39 From Laura Heinrich to Hosts and panelists : What about District of Columbia
12:29:54 From Elva Roy : I met the owner of a green cemetery outside of Austin, TX, and I told her that I would just have my son put me in a sleeping bag, put me on the back seat of his car, and bring me to be buried in her cemetery. She said "Not if the sleeping bag is polyester." LOL.
12:30:59 From Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : Mushroom Burial Suit Creates Life After Death https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/mushroom-burial-suit.htm
12:31:25 From Tina Cottone to Hosts and panelists : Will the recording be available for us to view/download? If so, where will it reside?
12:32:27 From Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : The recording of this discussion and all chat and resources will be at https://www.retirementlivingsourcebook.com/videos?q=proaging later today!
12:32:29 From Terri Shaw : after conversion to soil where does it go--and when
12:33:17 From Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : Recompose works directly with you and the people in your
life to ensure respectful, empathetic service from the time
of death through the body’s transformation into soil. https://recompose.life/
12:39:04 From Elva Roy : I helped 3 local families do a home funeral (preparation of the body, etc.). Interesting experience...trained with women in Austin, TX, about how to do it.
12:42:01 From c conley to Hosts and panelists : How are the green alternatives regulated or monitored to make sure they are doing everything they say they will do? Especially important if the person doesn’t have family or younger friends that can oversee things.
12:42:05 From Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : Shari Haber
Founder
Great Goodbyes LLC
201/236-0670
www.mygreatgoodbye.com
12:42:08 From Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : shari@mygreatgoodbye.com
12:44:11 From Elva Roy : Non-profit Funeral Consumers Alliance...lot of useful free information www.funerals.org
12:45:29 From Lisa Morris : There is a resource for home funerals and green burials on a website called Crossing: Caring for our Own at Death. This is a group from Takoma Park and the info on the website it very helpful. http://crossings.net/index.html
12:46:33 From Elva Roy : A pet cemetery near me (Bluebonnet in Mansfield, TX) allows a human's cremains to be buried with their beloved pet.
12:49:16 From Elva Roy : Be aware of the FTC's "Funeral Rule" which mandates mortuaries to quote prices on the phone and to give a prospective customer an itemized list of their prices so you can pick and choose what you want.
12:55:14 From Elva Roy : Another thing to do with cremains is to have the cremains incorporated into artificial reef balls which are put into the ocean to give the fish a place to swim, hide, and play.
12:56:43 From Amy O'Donnell : This was the story Steve was talking about:
12:56:47 From Amy O'Donnell : https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.npr.org/2023/10/19/1207147316/colorado-funeral-home-investigation&ved=2ahUKEwi60bDa28mFAxVTMlkFHYvoD6IQFnoECBcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1nXBuy1WPuP5yXaj2lUfsd
12:57:08 From Elva Roy : The absolute cheapest and least burdensome method for family is "whole body donation" (donate body to science). To a medical school, or a paid service.
12:58:01 From Elva Roy : Cemeteries won't let pets be buried in a regular cemetery here in Texas.
12:58:17 From Lisa Morris : When you donate the body, it usually ends up being cremated after some times
12:58:57 From Wanda Sola to Hosts and panelists : PLEASE, please, please > consider organ donation before funeral arrangements. My husband received a kidney transplant and we will be eternally grateful to their family.
12:59:07 From Elva Roy : Correct, Lisa, At the end of the process, cremains are usually made available to the family.
13:00:02 From Wanda Sola to Hosts and panelists : Very important to let your family know!
13:00:45 From Elva Roy : You can't be an "organ" donor AND a "whole body donor" (except for cornea). Donation sites have certain requirements....certain range of BMI, no emaciated bodies or morbidly obese, no transmittable diseases, etc.
13:04:19 From Elva Roy : You can be a whole body donor which means that you can't donate your "organs" with the exception being "cornea." You can be a whole body donor AND donate your cornea.
13:04:40 From mary busse : I am the grateful recipient of corneal transplants
13:05:05 From Wanda Sola to Hosts and panelists : Thank you Shari!!!
13:05:06 From Elva Roy : Thanks, Shari!
13:05:10 From Mary Illes : Thanks so much Shari this was so informative!
13:05:32 From Mike Hudson : Very informative! Thank you!
13:05:36 From Stephanie W to Hosts and panelists : TY Shari and Steve. Very informative.
13:05:38 From Diane Brown : Thank you. Great topic.
13:05:42 From Mary Tondreau : Thank you. Good information.
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