BILLINGS — Mountview Cemetery in Billings has been offering green burial services for the past year but its first green burial occurred last week.
By offering green or natural burials, the cemetery is following a growing trend as demand for more environmentally conscious services is rising.
It's thanks to the Yellowstone Valley Citizens Council, an affiliate of the Northern Plains Resource Council, that Mountview Cemetery has started offering the service.
"I was distressed and some other people were too, that the only options seem to be high toxic chemical embalming or high fossil fuel use, you know, putting out a lot of greenhouse gases for cremation and both are very expensive," said Mary Fitzpatrick, a volunteer with the Yellowstone Valley Citizens Council. "And I left a voicemail for Brandon Schmidt at the city and he was wonderful. Even before he and I have talked, he jumped on it. He researched it and found out there are no legal impediments. And so then it was a matter of, we approached, Maggie Beeson and I approached Dahl Funeral Chapel. And of course, they were interested."
Green or natural burials are services done without embalming fluid or a casket, making it a more environmentally conscious option for burials.
“It’s just an effort to keep my funeral from doing more damage,” Fitzpatrick said.
"We'd be talking about a type of burial where everything is biodegradable," said Emily Miller, a funeral home director in Colorado and a member of the Green Burial Council.
According to the Green Burial Council, the funeral industry uses 4.3 million gallons of embalming fluid, 1.6 million tons of concrete, and 20 million board feet of hardwood each year.
"It's greener if we don't use those expendable materials," Miller said.
Miller said natural burials have become extremely popular for several reasons.
"I think people are choosing natural burials more and more, certainly in some cases because they're mostly concerned about their environmental footprint. But also, it just is a very nice thing to do when someone has passed away. It relies on ancient wisdom and it offers a nice rite of passage regardless of what your religious faith might be," said Miller. "You see the plants and animals that are going to benefit from regenerating the soil by returning these nutrients to the earth. And in fact, sometimes we invite the guests to participate with planting the seeds that will literally benefit from the gift of their loved one to the earth."
She also said they tend to be more affordable than a conventional burial.
"Usually a natural burial is going to cost less than a conventional burial because you don't have to purchase a casket…and you're not going to be required to purchase a burial vault either," said Miller.
All reasons why Fitzpatrick is already planning her own green burial.
"My plan is perhaps to go to visit some of the churches that have cemeteries and ask if they would be interested in making it an option on their grounds," Fitzpatrick said. "I would think I would prefer just a shroud and I'm just I ought to buy it, make it easy for whoever's taking care of me when I'm gone."
