Katherine MacLean, volunteer at Center for Solace (formerly Hospice but changed because they do so much more), the only nonprofit Hospice in Vermont.  Green burial is the way we all used to do it.  Today, funerals are very expensive and not ecologically-minded.  Some funeral homes no longer embalm bodies because it’s bad for their employees – studies show they have 8 times the risk for leukemia and 3 times for ALS.  

Katherine gave data about the ecological impact of traditional funerals.  You can keep a body from decaying for a week or more just by keeping it cold, in cold storage in a funeral home, or in a cold place in the winter, or with ice packs.  Most cemeteries now allow green burial.  Katherine passed around pictures and read a piece written by a client whose mother was readied at home and buried at Meeting House Hill Cemetery.  It can facilitate the moving through grief to keep your loved one’s body at home for a more than just an hour or two.  Willow caskets are made locally.  Local funeral homes are very up on all this and happy to cooperate and help.  If your loved one is already on Hospice, Center for Solace will come to help.  If not already using hospice, you can still call and get questions answered.  Katherine finds death inspiring and heart breaking and says we can hold the two together.  

Betsy mentions how terrific Experienced Goods is, which underwrites a significant portion of Center for Solace’s operations.

Rob asks about frozen ground.  Katherine explains that, in all but the coldest winters, it’s not hard to get through the frozen layer with a machine.  

Center for Solace is creating a guide for Town Clerks.  

Scribe: Cindy Jerome