The Texas Parks and Wildlife department has begun to work on a project to have green burials in Texas' state parks. For those of you that haven't heard of green burials, they basically entail burying people who have passed without using embalming methods or a casket/shroud that isn't biodegradable. The idea behind it is to allow bodies to decompose naturally, and it's another option for people who aren't a fan of traditional methods of burial.
Such projects are common in other states, but the difference here is that there would be a partnership between a state agency and death service providers. According to Ted Hollingsworth (the director of land conservation at the Texas Parks and Wildlife department), "We wouldn't own or manage the cemetary, but where people pay for those burials a certain part of that payment takes out that land, and pays for that land, that then does get added to the state park." Hollingsworth also stated that they would look toward land near urban settings in order to save it from development.
Personally, I'm planning on being cremated. But I think this is a great idea that will help to preserve the beauty of the Texas landscape while also promoting the idea of a green burial. Considering how outdoorsy most of Austin citizens are, I think it'd be an especially popular option here. I'm totally behind tax dollars going to fund the organization of this project.
You can read more about the idea here, on the KXAN website.
I was very interested in the editorial done by "The Texas Political Fix," partly because I had yet to hear about any of it and also because I agree with what she had to say about how great a greener burial would be for the world. When she stated that it gives her "some optimism" for Texas government I had to concur with that statement. I like how the article was introduced and I thought it was well presented and explained.
ReplyDeleteAdding on to what she had to say a state park is not currently able to purchase more land unless they use it for this kind of purpose, so they would plan on purchasing land "adjacent" to the state park and would prefer to buy land near urban areas so they could "save" the land from development. Luckily the "Green Burial Council" says that no one would be buried near campsites, so that means the regular state parks can run like normal they would just have that extra land to give people an option to be buried naturally. This would give wildlife a chance to be saved from construction. None of this has happened and there aren't any plans of it happening any time soon, but it great that people are seriously talking about it.
I personally am not particularly excited to think about becoming worm food and that is why cremation seems to be the way I want to go but I think this is a great option for people who don't mind that kind of thing and want to become a part of nature and not make too serious of an impact on it