Read the full article<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\nMia Zinn was a member of her middle school ecology club, had planted a reflection garden and had implored public officials to preserve a local woods, and when she became terminally ill, she wanted to become a tree. So, the day after she died, her father, Chris Zinn, visited Serenity Ridge Natural Burial Cemetery and Arboretum in Baltimore County, a 45-minute drive from the family\u2019s home in Abingdon, Md. He was drawn to a wooded area that opened up to a wedge of western sky.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the perfect spot,\u201d he said. \u201cIt reminded me a lot of an area that we hiked many, many times near here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mia died last month at 17 of Ewing\u2019s sarcoma, a rare bone cancer, and became the third person interred at Serenity Ridge. The site is one of a growing number of cemeteries in the United States offering natural, or green, burials in response to demand from the environmentally conscious.<\/p>\n
Such burials eschew the embalming, expensive caskets and concrete vaults or metal grave liners standard in U.S. cemeteries, replacing them with simple materials that decompose along with the body. Mia was laid to rest in a bamboo casket with a cotton sheath, a burial her parents said was simple and elegant and surprised some of the attendees.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people said, \u2018Oh my gosh, I didn\u2019t know this was even a thing,\u2019\u201d said her mother, Aubrey Zinn.[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.serenityridgemd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/mia.webp” alt=”Howard Berg of Serenity Ridge Natural Burial Cemetery” title_text=”mia” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.6em” header_2_font_size=”27px” header_2_line_height=”1.3em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”||||false|true” custom_padding_tablet=”||10px||false|true” custom_padding_phone=”||||false|true” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|phone” text_font_size_tablet=”16px” text_font_size_phone=”14px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|tablet” header_2_font_size_tablet=”25px” header_2_font_size_phone=”22px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Mia Zinn joined an ecology club at school and loved nature and hiking with her dad. (Chris Zinn)<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.6″ header_2_font_size=”27px” header_2_line_height=”1.3em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_font_size_tablet=”16px” text_font_size_phone=”15px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” header_2_font_size_tablet=”25px” header_2_font_size_phone=”22px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]Simpler, greener burials were the American standard until the Civil War, when many soldiers were embalmed so their bodies could be returned home. President Abraham Lincoln\u2019s embalming then made the procedure fashionable, and over the next century, embalming, luxurious caskets and vault liners became standard.<\/p>\n
Today, 57 percent of people in the United States choose cremation, followed by 37 percent who opt for a traditional burial, according to the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA). But these have environmental drawbacks.<\/p>\n
Cremation, which involves running a furnace at nearly 2,000 degrees for up to two hours, produces emissions comparable to driving a car 500 miles, according to the Green Burial Council, a nonprofit organization that advocates for environmentally sustainable death care. Traditional burials, meanwhile, plow 1.6 million tons of concrete into the ground each year, along with 4.3 million gallons of embalming fluid and 64,500 tons of steel, the council said. A traditional burial emits 250 pounds of carbon, while a green burial sequesters 25 pounds.<\/p>\n
The environmental impact was one reason Jane Pennington decided against cremation for her 96-year-old husband, Ken Pennington, a voice teacher and World War II veteran who died last month. \u201cCrematoria are usually located in the most disadvantaged places where people live,\u201d she said. \u201cThey [release] the smoke and the odor, and I don\u2019t want to add to that.\u201d She buried her husband at Serenity Ridge in a woven willow casket and reserved a plot beside him for herself.[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.serenityridgemd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/markers.webp” alt=”Green Burial Council of Maryland” title_text=”markers” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.6em” header_2_font_size=”27px” header_2_line_height=”1.3em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”||||false|true” custom_padding_tablet=”||10px||false|true” custom_padding_phone=”||||false|true” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|phone” text_font_size_tablet=”16px” text_font_size_phone=”14px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|tablet” header_2_font_size_tablet=”25px” header_2_font_size_phone=”22px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Markers for future burials at Serenity Ridge. (Michael Robinson Ch\u00e1vez\/The Washington Post)<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.6″ header_2_font_size=”27px” header_2_line_height=”1.3em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_font_size_tablet=”16px” text_font_size_phone=”15px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” header_2_font_size_tablet=”25px” header_2_font_size_phone=”22px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]According to an NFDA report last year, 3 out of 5 people expressed interest in exploring green burials.<\/p>\n
\u201cTen years ago, I don\u2019t even think we were a blip on the radar,\u201d said Ed Bixby, the council\u2019s president. Now the council has certified dozens of green cemeteries in more than 30 states, including some \u201chybrid\u201d ones that offer both green and traditional burials. Bixby estimated that about 8 percent of people opt for a green burial, and he expects that number to \u201cjump.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Bixby said no state laws prohibit green burials, not all cemeteries offer them. Some local jurisdictions require cemeteries to have paved roads to gravesites or to use leakproof containers. With green burials, the earth settles during decomposition, causing the land to undulate; some cemeteries mandate vault liners to maintain a flat landscape.<\/p>\n
Howard Berg, a retired colorectal surgeon and the owner and general manager of Serenity Ridge, came upon the idea when he and his brothers were mulling what do with 177 acres of farmland they had inherited. They contacted Bixby, who owns 12 green cemeteries around the country, and toured one of his in New Jersey.<\/p>\n
The concept \u201cjust called to me,\u201d Berg said. \u201cI mean, what else could you possibly want as your last act on earth \u2014 enhancing the environment rather than impacting it in a negative way?\u201d[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.serenityridgemd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/tour.jpg” alt=”Duck Run Natural Cemetery” title_text=”tour” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.6em” header_2_font_size=”27px” header_2_line_height=”1.3em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”||||false|true” custom_padding_tablet=”||10px||false|true” custom_padding_phone=”||||false|true” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|phone” text_font_size_tablet=”16px” text_font_size_phone=”14px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|tablet” header_2_font_size_tablet=”25px” header_2_font_size_phone=”22px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
A tour group at Serenity Ridge. (Michael Robinson Ch\u00e1vez\/The Washington Post)<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.6″ header_2_font_size=”27px” header_2_line_height=”1.3em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_font_size_tablet=”16px” text_font_size_phone=”15px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” header_2_font_size_tablet=”25px” header_2_font_size_phone=”22px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]Someone coming upon the property\u2019s rolling hills and wooded copses might not realize bodies are buried there. Rather than upright tombstones, grave markers at Serenity Ridge will be flat fieldstones. The grounds will be planted with wildflowers and native trees and shrubs and mowed only occasionally, with goats perhaps brought in to help. It is open to hikers, birdwatchers and equestrians, with a horse farm next door.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole idea is not to think of it as a cemetery,\u201d Berg said. \u201cIt\u2019s a nature preserve where people happen to be buried.\u201d[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.serenityridgemd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/howard.jpg” alt=”Stake marking natural burial plot” title_text=”howard” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.6em” header_2_font_size=”27px” header_2_line_height=”1.3em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”||||false|true” custom_padding_tablet=”||10px||false|true” custom_padding_phone=”||||false|true” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|phone” text_font_size_tablet=”16px” text_font_size_phone=”14px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|tablet” header_2_font_size_tablet=”25px” header_2_font_size_phone=”22px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole idea is not to think of it as a cemetery,\u201d said owner and general manager Howard Berg. \u201cIt\u2019s a nature preserve where people happen to be buried.\u201d (Michael Robinson Ch\u00e1vez\/The Washington Post)<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.6″ header_2_font_size=”27px” header_2_line_height=”1.3em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_font_size_tablet=”16px” text_font_size_phone=”15px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” header_2_font_size_tablet=”25px” header_2_font_size_phone=”22px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]Nina Cardin, a rabbi in Pikesville, Md., recently joined Berg on a group tour of what may become a Jewish section. Some religious traditions, such as Judaism and Islam, have rules that align with green burials, like burying the body as soon as possible, in a simple shroud, preferably without embalming.<\/p>\n
The Talmud, Cardin said, talks about the inequity and disparity between wealthy and poor, with lavish burial rites being seen as inequitable. \u201cSeveral people mentioned to me they were very interested, and my husband and I are very interested,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Green burials are gaining traction in other parts of the Washington area, too. Another new cemetery with a similar philosophy as Serenity Ridge, to be called Reflection Park, was recently approved in Silver Spring.<\/p>\n
Its co-founder, Basil Eldadah, also a physician, said he got the idea after his father died in 2012. \u201cHe strongly believed that our bodies are our jackets and when our work\u2019s done in the world, our bodies should return naturally to the earth from whence they came,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But at the time of his father\u2019s death, Eldadah thought cemeteries required a concrete vault and liner.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe closest we came to it was a grave that had some dirt in the concrete liner,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember thinking vividly at the time of the burial, \u2018There might be a time when I can be involved in offering a natural burial to people.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Eldadah plans to open the cemetery early next year. It will cover about one-third of a 40-acre tract.<\/p>\n
Congressional Cemetery, which opened on Capitol Hill in 1807 and interred some early members of Congress, never stopped allowing green burials. But it has recently has become more intentional about them, and this month it hosted the dedication of a 60-foot circle that highlights them.<\/p>\n
Green burials are allowed anywhere in the cemetery, but the idea of proposing a special section came to Sharon Metcalf, 73, a Bethesda resident, in 2019 as she and some friends were discussing end-of-life plans.<\/p>\n
Administrators liked the idea. \u201cWe\u2019re a very quirky, interesting place. We rarely say no,\u201d said Jackie Spainhour, the cemetery\u2019s president. Congressional is run by a nonprofit organization with a mission of environmental stewardship, education, community engagement, she said, \u201cso this fits most of our brackets.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cemetery has seen interest in green burials increase in the past five to 10 years. \u201cIt\u2019s right on par with our cremation rates,\u201d Spainhour said. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing less and less of the full casket with the liner.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cemetery also has an in-house end-of-life doula and hosts \u201cdeath cafe\u201d discussions in a chapel on-site. On a recent Saturday, Metcalf stood beside the pews, where a dozen or so attendees sipped tea and nibbled on homemade bread as she told them about green burials.[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.serenityridgemd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/sharon.webp” alt=”Ben’s Run at Serenity Ridge Natural Burial Cemetery” title_text=”sharon” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.6em” header_2_font_size=”27px” header_2_line_height=”1.3em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”||||false|true” custom_padding_tablet=”||10px||false|true” custom_padding_phone=”||||false|true” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|phone” text_font_size_tablet=”16px” text_font_size_phone=”14px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|tablet” header_2_font_size_tablet=”25px” header_2_font_size_phone=”22px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Sharon Metcalf explains to a group about green burials at Congressional Cemetery. Metcalf has reserved a plot of her own. (Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post)<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.6″ header_2_font_size=”27px” header_2_line_height=”1.3em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_font_size_tablet=”16px” text_font_size_phone=”15px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” header_2_font_size_tablet=”25px” header_2_font_size_phone=”22px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]\u201cYou are not embalmed. You are not infused with chemistry,\u201d she explained. \u201cInsects naturally break down the body, and it\u2019s really the cycle of life, that the insects are helping to nourish the soil and the birds.\u201d<\/p>\n
She led the group outside, past the historic gravestones and down to a sloped area beside the beehives. There, the new \u201cCircle of Life\u201d section was marked by a ring of linden saplings and flat granite stones carved with images of spring, summer, fall and winter.<\/p>\n
Geese honked above the rushing sound of a highway. Metcalf pointed to a mounded grave covered in small stones and liriope.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis, sadly, is my friend Nancy Brennan, who passed away last September,\u201d she said, her voice wavering. Brennan, a renowned museum curator and founding executive director of the Rose Kennedy Greenway, had helped Metcalf design the Circle of Life. When she died, at 73, she was buried in a shroud. Her friends planted the liriope and placed the stones around it, and plan to put in grass seed in the spring.[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.serenityridgemd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/nancy.jpg” alt=”Ben’s Run at Serenity Ridge Natural Burial Cemetery” title_text=”nancy” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.6em” header_2_font_size=”27px” header_2_line_height=”1.3em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”||||false|true” custom_padding_tablet=”||10px||false|true” custom_padding_phone=”||||false|true” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|phone” text_font_size_tablet=”16px” text_font_size_phone=”14px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|tablet” header_2_font_size_tablet=”25px” header_2_font_size_phone=”22px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
The green burial site of Nancy Brennan at Congressional Cemetery. Brennan died last September, after helping design its \u201cCircle of Life\u201d section. (Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post)<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.6″ header_2_font_size=”27px” header_2_line_height=”1.3em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_font_size_tablet=”16px” text_font_size_phone=”15px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” header_2_font_size_tablet=”25px” header_2_font_size_phone=”22px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]Metcalf took a step downhill. There, she pointed out another site: the one she purchased for herself. \u201cI will be here in the years to come,\u201d she said. \u201cI will be in the shade of this tree.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not only that, she told the group, but she had purchased the patch of ground next to it for her 34-year-old son. \u201cHis friends laughed at him, that this was the present that his mom gave him for Christmas,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But the idea made sense to many of the attendees.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be friends with the worms,\u201d said Courtney Mazza, 44, of Silver Spring. \u201cI love the idea of nourishing the earth. I mean, that\u2019s the way it was always supposed to be. Dust to dust.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Pope Barrow, 80, of Capitol Hill, the presentation opened up possibilities he hadn\u2019t known about. \u201cHow do you sign me up? I\u2019m ready,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Barrow had long wanted a green burial, but \u201cI thought they were going to have to ship my body out to Oregon,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m really excited to learn I don\u2019t have to do that. They can throw me in the ground in a sheet, which people have done for centuries. I don\u2019t really want to be preserved, no point in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mia Zinn\u2019s burial also caused some to rethink their own plans, including her 91-year-old grandfather. \u201cHe just thought it was amazing, that you could be buried in nature and not in a \u2018cemetery,\u2019 with row after row of headstones,\u201d Chris Zinn said. \u201cA cemetery represents death and dying. What we did with Mia was more of a rebirth.\u201d<\/p>\n
And, for her family, it felt like the truest way to honor her.<\/p>\n
\u201cBurying your child is overwhelming,\u201d Aubrey Zinn said. \u201cBut this felt peaceful.\u201d[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.serenityridgemd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/trail.jpg” alt=”Ben’s Run at Serenity Ridge Natural Burial Cemetery” title_text=”trail” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.6em” header_2_font_size=”27px” header_2_line_height=”1.3em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”||||false|true” custom_padding_tablet=”||10px||false|true” custom_padding_phone=”||||false|true” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|phone” text_font_size_tablet=”16px” text_font_size_phone=”14px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|tablet” header_2_font_size_tablet=”25px” header_2_font_size_phone=”22px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
A group walks up a trail during a tour of Serenity Ridge in February. (Michael Robinson Ch\u00e1vez\/The Washington Post)<\/p>\n
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The site of the first \u201cgreen\u201d burial in Serenity Ridge, a cemetery and nature reserve in Windsor Mill, Md. (Michael Robinson Ch\u00e1vez\/The Washington Post)By Tara Bahrampour, The Washington Post (Read the full article) Mia Zinn was a member of her middle school ecology club, had planted a reflection garden and had implored public officials to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2771,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,12,31],"tags":[17,14,18,13],"class_list":["post-2758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-green-burial","category-news","tag-environmentally-green-funeral","tag-green-burial","tag-green-cemetery-maryland","tag-natural-burial"],"yoast_head":"\n
To help Earth\u2019s future, people are getting buried like it\u2019s 1860 - Serenity Ridge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.serenityridgemd.com\/to-help-earths-future-people-are-getting-buried-like-its-1860\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To help Earth\u2019s future, people are getting buried like it\u2019s 1860\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The site of the first \u201cgreen\u201d burial in Serenity Ridge, a cemetery and nature reserve in Windsor Mill, Md. 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