What is new is that land trusts are thinking of green cemeteries as a way of conserving land in perpetuity for gentle multi-use — trails, habitat, and green space as well as burials.
They put out the idea to their membership, and a family responded with an offer to cover the funding for the land and set-up costs, aided by a grant that KLT received.
Others include Alison Rector, a board member for the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Maine; Chuck Lakin, a home funeral educator and woodworker who makes coffins; Joyce Foley, President of the Cedar Brook Burial Ground in Limington; Jean Berman, an Interfaith Chaplain and Hospice Coordinator of Volunteers, who studies, practices and teaches about Jewish end of life traditions; and Susan Bakaley Marshall, an art therapist/healer who worked in hospice for 12 years, and Chris Marshall, who co-leads the HeartSong group that offers songs of comfort to the terminally ill, along with their families and caregivers.