Options for Green Burial

Green Burial Council established and set standards in the three categories of hybrid cemetery, natural cemetery, and conservation cemetery
https://www.greenburialcouncil.org/our_standards.html

Environmental Impact of Conventional Burial

Statistics – Mary Woodsen
https://www.greenburialcouncil.org/media_packet.html

Benefits of Natural Burial

Photograph by Ramsey Creek Preserve, Westminster, SC
https://www.memorialecosystems.com

Green Burial Supplies

Funerary Artisans Collective
Find eco-friendly funeral containers and related products designed and made by cottage artists and craftspeople with locally-sourced native materials when possible using time-honored techniques.
https://www.funeraryartisanscollective.org

Green Burial Council Products
Funeral containers and related products are eligible for certification through Green Burial Council by companies and distributors who choose to do so.
https://www.greenburialcouncil.org/funeral_products.html

Maryland Arts Council Directory
Find a local Maryland artist or craftsperson to make caskets, shrouds, and other funeral containers and products.
https://www.msac.org

Nonprofit Organizations

The Funeral Consumers Alliance has been dedicated to protecting consumers’ right to choose a meaningful, dignified, and affordable funeral for over 30 years. The local Maryland affiliate has specific information for Maryland residents.

Funeral Consumer Alliance National https://funerals.org

Funeral Consumer Alliance Maryland Affiliate https://mdfunerals.org

The Green Burial Council has educational materials to help learn more about green burial and how to find certified cemetery stewards, funeral professionals, and funerary product sellers who share the commitment to create more sustainable after-death options for you, your community, and the planet.

Green Burial Council https://www.greenburialcouncil.org

The Conservation Burial Alliance is a group of conservation burial operators and those interested in promoting and developing sites that utilize burial on protected land as a way of saving land while increasing social and environmental access to natural spaces.

Conservation Burial Alliance https://www.conservationburialalliance.org

Funeral Partnership.org websites explain the law, the how-tos, and the fine points of funerals in each state, with particular emphasis on family-directed funerals in preparation for natural burials.
Maryland Funeral https://www.marylandfuneral.org

Books, Articles, Videos

Books

  • Grave Matters by Mark Harris
  • Greening Death by Suzanne Kelly
  • Reimagining Death by Lucinda Herring
  • Our Last Best Act by Mallory McDuff
  • Changing Landscapes by Lee Webster
  • The Natural Burial Cemetery Guide by Ann Hoffner
  • The Green Burial Guidebook by Elizabeth Fournier
  • The After-Death Care Educator Handbook by Lee Webster
  • Final Rights by Carlson & Slocum
  • The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford
  • This Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin Faust
  • Home Funeral Ceremonies by Donna Belk and Kateyanne Unullisi
  • Preparing for a Better End: Expert Lessons on Death and Dying for You and Your Loved Ones by Dan Morhaim, MD with Shelley Morhaim

Articles

Options for ‘green’ burials grow in Chesapeake region | Pollution & Solutions | bayjournal.com by Whitney Pipkin

Maryland’s First Green Cemetery to Open Next Month in Windsor, Baltimore Sun, November 29, 2022

Serenity Ridge Burial Cemetery and Arboretum, Baltimore Sun, November 28, 2022

Maryland family seeks to turn property into a new green graveyard in Baltimore County, by Taylor DeVille, November 7, 2021

Videos

Deeply Rooted, a film about conservation burial by the Conservation Burial Alliance, 2021

The Grave Realities of Graveyard Realty Equity, inclusion, and diversity in the conservation burial space with Carlos Gonzales of Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery, EBECC, 2022

Cremation Curious a short video that explores incomplete disposition processes, including flame cremation, alkaline hydrolysis, and natural organic reduction, Lee Webster, November 2022
The Natural Burial Experience takes a visitor through a typical green burial with photos and information to helpful as well as see, Lee Webster, October 2022
The Underground Truth About Vaults explains how grave liners came into being, Lee Webster, September 2022

Taking Back the Process: The Handmade Funeral of Loie Knowles, Jan Sturmann, 2019 

—————————————————————————————

DISCLAIMER: This list of resources is provided as a public service only. Inclusion on this webpage does not constitute or imply an endorsement or indicate a financial exchange of any kind between the Green Burial Association of Maryland and those businesses listed. Any business conducted between a member of the public and a listed consultant is purely between the parties involved.

—————————————————————————————

Maryland Cemeteries

Baltimore Hebrew Belair Road Cemetery
Hybrid Cemetery
2100 Belair Road
Baltimore MD 21213
410-764-1587
www.baltimorehebrew.org/about/cemetery/

Baltimore Hebrew Congregation Cemetery
Hybrid Cemetery
318 Berrymans Lane
Reisterstown MD 21136
410-764-1587
www.baltimorehebrew.org/about/cemetery/

Bestgate Memorial Park
Private Hybrid Cemetery
814 Bestgate Road
Annapolis MD 21401
410-841-6255
www.mdgreenburial.com

Chevrei Tzedek Congregation Cemetery
2020 West Liberty Road
Taylorsville, MD 21157
www.chevreitzedek.org
Cemetery Advisory Board email: cab@chevrei.org

Columbia Memorial Park
12005 Clarksville Pike
Clarksville, MD 21029
410-997-7800

Garden of Remembrance
Gan Zikaron Memorial Park
Hybrid Cemetery

14321 Comus Road
Clarksburg MD 20871
301-428-3000
www.gardenofremembrance.org

Mount Olivet Cemetery 
Hybrid Cemetery
515 S. Market Street
Frederick MD 21701
301.662.1164
www.mountolivetcemeteryinc.com

Reflection Park
In progress
Silver Spring MD
413-840-6775
www.reflectionpark.org


Serenity Ridge Natural Burial Cemetery And Arboretum
Windsor Mill, MD 21244
410-419-3012
www.serenityridgemd.com

United Hebrew Cemetery
Hybrid Cemetery
3901 Washington Blvd.
Halethorpe MD 21227
410-242-1444
www.mmae.org/cemetery.html

Woodlawn Memorial Park
Hybrid Cemetery
11365 Ocean Gateway
​Easton, MD 21601
410-822-4282
info@woodlawneaston.com
www.woodlawneaston.com

This widely-shared list from NH Funerals, Education & Advocacy consists of cemeteries and burial grounds that have been reported to provide natural burial options, including conservation preserves, natural burial grounds, hybrid cemeteries that allow some space for burial without a vault, and even a handful of known municipal cemeteries that simply do not require vaults that do not intentionally identify themselves as green.

https://www.nhfuneral.org/green-burial-cemeteries-in-the-us-and-canada.html

​The Green Burial Council offers certification programs for burial grounds. Certification is awarded to providers that demonstrate compliance with the established Green Burial Council standards, designed to create sustainable practices in the funeral industry, and to preserve and steward land through burial.  https://www.greenburialcouncil.org/cemeteries.html

Consumer Advocacy

Funeral Consumers Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting a consumer’s right to choose a meaningful, dignified, affordable funeral. Here is a link to the Maryland branch. The Funeral Consumers Alliance website lists local contacts in adjoining States.