John Bradfield, author of Green Burial (published by the Natural Death Centre), spoke on the subject of green funerals, and on behalf of the A. B. Wildlife Trust, at the National Association of Funeral Directors conference in Edinburgh, on May 16th '96. The following is summarised from his talk, the full text of which is due to be published by the Association or may be obtainable from the author.
I have given this address the title of 'Would You Believe It?', because I did for many years - and now realise I should not have done. If I read anything about procedures around dying and death, when a hospital social worker and educator, I accepted it as true. If an expert said or did anything, I assumed they knew the law. Now I am very cautious - even to the point of not trusting so-called 'evidence' of the law, in case it has been taken out of context, is misleading or just plain wrong. I am now so wary, I no longer believe anything unless I have checked it for myself.
I want to draw your attention to the ubiquitous ignorance surrounding dying and death, which allows beliefs to pass as facts, whether plausible or absurd. Why we live with such an appalling level of ignorance is an area for study in its own right.
Does it matter if most people have no understanding of the subject? Does the level of misinformation being circulated really matter ? It does, in that real choice is only possible with full and accurate information.
Training courses continue to neglect this area. Even in 1983, it was noted with dismay that those with social studies backgrounds, like myself, had a blind spot on the subject of the impacts of death and funerals. If health and social services staff pick up the phone to get advice on law from a senior colleague, there is every chance that no one will be able to help or, worse, the information given will be legally flawed. Even solicitors working in the health service and local government, admit that they do not know the law or, have all too often given wrong advice.
Before I turn to examples of misinformation, I need to clarify the meaning of 'green' in my subject, as printed in the Conference timetable. At its simplest, it is a very practical approach to living, which meets the needs of people, without jeopardising opportunities for future generations, or the natural world in all its forms.
To give a very tangible example of the link between the needs of people and wildlife, I would be grateful if you could raise one hand, and keep it up, if you sell any products made of mahogany, whether as solid wood or veneer...
[Estimate of percentage of hands raised: about 50% to 60%.]
People living in rainforests continue to be killed by men employed by logging companies, trying to get mahogany for you to sell. This is encapsulated in the Friends of the Earth slogan 'Mahogany is Murder'.
In various parts of Africa, "logging companies, mostly from Western Europe, are pushing into the remaining forest areas" and workers have been killing gorillas and other apes for food, pushing them closer to extinction (Greg Neale, Sunday Telegraph, 14.4.96: 36). The murder of forest peoples and wild animals, has been the invisible price we have been paying for tropical timbers. What was invisible is now visible and we can use the money in our pockets to support or protest.
Now you are aware of these atrocities, if you were not already aware, how many of you will continue to sell mahogany and other timbers from tropical forests?
I know this is embarrassing ...
[Estimate of percentage of hands raised: about 50% to 60%.]
One way of raising standards, to put your firm head and shoulders above the rest in your area, is to ask penetrating questions of manufacturers and suppliers, including those which claim their products are environmentally-friendly. Such claims are, according to the National Centre for Toxic & Persistent Substances, "often misleading and not substantiated by technical data".
I urge to develop this discussion and a code of practice.
One of the oldest beliefs of all, which remains common even today, is that fees have to be paid for taking bodies over county boundaries. A Macmillan Nurse in a London hospice recently cautioned a widow about the complexity and costs of taking her husband's body up to Northumberland. She wasted time, money and emotional energy, ringing around for details of the law. Finally, she contacted the AB Wildlife Trust Fund, only to discover no such fees have ever existed.
Another common myth is that the law has required the use of coffins for transporting bodied to funerals and/or for burials. Your own Simon Truelove [ex-public relations officer for the National Association of Funeral Directors] states in the May 1994 edition of your journal, Funeral Director, that the Church of England had recently relaxed its laws, to permit uncoffined burials. Many undertakers I have met still insist that coffins must be used for burials, which suggests that they have never arranged a Muslim funeral or have provided a disservice - in that Muslims do not use coffins by choice.
It should be well known to you and your colleagues that no law has ever required the use of coffins in any type of burial place. This being so, you have a vital role to play in pointing out to local councillors and public cemetery staff, that any local rules about using coffins are negotiable. More significantly, it can be argued that the 'Race' Relations Act 1976 implicitly requires that Muslims be able to follow their own traditions, by not using coffins. As no majority or minority community has any special privileges in law, the same option must be available to anyone.
Do you advise, or direct on funerals?
I will never forget the words of a very well organised man, who arranged a burial in a nature reserve. He was worried the funeral would be stopped, if I did not hand the 'green form' to the undertaker, who had been asked to provide transport on the day. This message had been given by the undertaker and it is one printed in many texts. It is misleading, in that a burial authorisation must exist, as the small print states on the form, but it must be given to the landowner, manager or person who 'keeps' the land burial register. I was that person in this case.
During the funeral, this very capable man kept asking the undertaker if he would mind if the family did certain things, which they had planned together. Rather than say he was there to be used by the family as it saw fit, an atmosphere of nonchalance and tension existed until the family was alone. Then they became real again, as they rolled up their sleeves to create a burial mound, with their chosen music playing in the background.
John Bradfield, the A. B. Wildlife Trust, 7 Knox Road, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG1 3EF (tel 01423 530900).
This webpage forms part of the Global Ideas Bank (www.globalideasbank.org).
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