click on one:
synopsis:
A Will for the Woods is a film about a dying wish for a meaningful legacy of eco-friendly funerals that conserve natural areas. Sounds simple, maybe? AWFW documentary team Amy Browne, Jeremy Kaplan, Tony Hale and Brian Wilson investigate the green burial revolution – an effort to advance environmentally sustainable funeral practices, connect people to timeless rituals, and create a powerful tool for conserving natural areas – focusing on the personal stories and struggles of key players in the movement.
This has been the challenge for Clark Wang – psychiatrist, musician, and folk dancer. In searching for a cure during his eight-year battle with lymphoma, Clark has found that the most distressing cause for his illness lies in the deterioration of our environment and has taken dramatic steps to lighten his own footprint. When he thinks about dying, Clark ironically finds great happiness and meaning in making his funeral plans – a green burial, his "sacred gift" to the woods. Rather than being just another statistic, Clark wants to bring significance to his life and death by changing the culture around end-of-life rituals.
Our other protagonist is Joe Sehee, founder of the Green Burial Council, the sole environmental regulatory organization (“held together with bubble-gum and Popsicle sticks”, quips Joe) in the multi-billion dollar funeral industry. Joe strives to change an industry often wary of innovation, while aiming to codify and unite the green burial movement on a global scale. Along with these efforts, he has been endeavoring for seven years to open a green burial site of his own back home in Santa Fe. His cemetery would be the largest of its kind, and would seek to prove that a green burial ground can raise the revenue to conserve thousands of acres of natural habitat, a theory still to be proven and a challenge that lies ahead for Joe.
In the context of global climate change, habitat loss, and water concerns, funerals that conserve land could contribute significantly to emissions sequestration and the conservation of watershed and habitat. Beyond their environmental goals, these funerals - and the act of planning them - aim to provide solace in the connection they draw between decay and regeneration, serving to reconnect people to timeless processes. Consequently, the death-care industry begins for the first time in its history effecting social change, rather than merely responding to it. Joe Sehee, Clark Wang and the diverse range of people in our film each play a significant and compelling role in this revolution.
Through them, we explore if this movement – resurrected from the past, with clear environmental, emotional and ceremonial goals – will take hold in a world arguably at odds with it.
what is a green burial?
A green burial is a simple and natural alternative to resource-intensive contemporary burial or cremation. The deceased is laid to rest in the earth in a biodegradable casket or shroud, without a vault, in a woodland or other natural setting, and with a fieldstone or indigenous plant marking the grave. This practice can be used as a conservation tool, enabling the acquisition, restoration, and stewardship of natural areas. It was prevalent for thousands of years (and still is in some parts of the world, including in traditional Muslim and Jewish burials) before the contemporary funeral industry propagated expensive and elaborate funerals as traditional.
characters:
Clark Wang: Clark grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and came to Durham, NC to attend college at Duke University, where he stayed for medical school and residency training in psychiatry. He then worked his entire career in community psychiatry, from Durham County Mental Health to Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh, NC. During this time, Clark continued playing cello as an amateur community musician, as well as playing piano. He discovered a love of international folk dancing, and learned Balkan style accordion playing for folk dancing. In 2004 Clark was treated for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a disease experience that slowly began to transform his thinking on food, organics, agriculture, environment, and political corporate dynamics, all with Clark's partner and wife, Jane Ezzard, RN, whom he met at Dorothea Dix Hospital. As his lymphoma continued to progress, Clark came to a realization about the environmental impact of burials and cremations, and began a search for information about Green Burials, as well as a search for local resources in the Triangle region of North Carolina supportive of natural burials. Clark has given community lectures on green burials and has been working as a community advocate to promote awareness of ultra-low environmental impact burials in the Triangle ever since. Clark continues to search and pray for treatment options to address the lymphoma, and for spiritual growth, with the undying hope for a better and cleaner future for all.
Find out more about Clark's cancer experience at his Caring Bridge blog.
Listen to Clark on APM radio. (Scroll to bottom of page to listen to the show.)
Joe Sehee: Joe is the executive director and founder of the Green Burial Council, based in New Mexico, and has been involved with the green burial field since 2002. A senior fellow with the Environmental Leadership Program, PERC "enviropreneur," and former chairman of the board of Leadership Santa Fe, Joe also consults land trusts, park service agencies, and cemetery/funeral concerns on developing burial grounds as a strategy for protecting natural areas. He is also the driving force behind a green burial project in the Galisteo Basin Preserve in Santa Fe, NM. It would follow the Green Burial Council's conservation burial ground model, which is also being practiced in many sites across America, though this site would implement it on the largest scale. It would help to conserve 1,300 acres of the adjoining natural area.
www.greenburialcouncil.org
Jane Ezzard: Jane and Clark met while working together at the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Hospital. Jane, a typical New Yorker who found her way to Durham, North Carolina, was not your average psychiatric nurse. She went against hospital conventions and made friends with her patients. To make them laugh she wore a Barbie doll necklace, and dressed up in costumes and encouraged the patients to do the same. She even started a comedy group that met once a week. Laughter, in Jane’s opinion, was going to be their best medicine and certainly a nice reprieve from the boredom of hospitalization. Clark saw in Jane a dedicated nurse who was making a positive change in the lives of everyone on the ward; and Jane saw in Clark an extremely talented psychiatrist who was improving the condition of his patients. It was not long before the two went out on their first date to Clark’s polka club. When Clark was diagnosed with lymphoma, Jane was there to take care of him through everything.
Billy and Kimberley Campbell: After speaking and writing about death care as a means of conservation for more than 10 years, Billy and his wife Kimberley founded Memorial Ecosystems in 1996, and opened the Ramsey Creek Preserve in South Carolina in 1998. Ramsey Creek served as a laboratory for developing the specific techniques for green interment and project design. It was here that Billy developed most of the standards for what is now known as conservation burial. Since opening the Ramsey Creek Preserve, the Campbells have participated in the development of multiple other functioning projects. Ramsey Creek is currently 72 acres, which the Campbells hope to expand to 300 acres as part of their larger goal of conserving one million acres through green burial and other conservation initiatives.
http://www.memorialecosystems.com/
Dyanne Matzkevich: Dyanne is a Manager and Planning Specialist at not one, but two cemeteries: Pine Forest Memorial Gardens in Wake Forest, NC and Gethsemane Memorial Gardens in Zebulon, NC. Pine Forest recently opened its green burial garden in the most ideal spot in the cemetery – right by the lake. When Clark Wang approached Dyanne about initiating a green burial garden in their community, Dyanne had already been thinking about it and was enthusiastic to begin planning it. It took a lot of hard work and persistence on Dyanne's behalf, but now the garden/forest is finally a reality. Clark and Jane have reserved their burial plots 50 feet from the lake, as close as they are allowed by law. www.pineforestmemorial.com
Kelly Lennon Weaver: Kelly, a mother of two, met Clark and Jane while going through her battle with breast cancer. She introduced Clark to holistic and organic alternatives to conventional medicine, while Clark introduced her to the concept of green burial. The two have remained close friends ever since.
people from movement/interviewees
Brian Flowers: Cemeterian and Green Burial Coordinator at Moles Cemetery, WA. Moles is what they call a "hybrid" cemetery, and on January 31st, 2009 what was just a conventional cemetery opened its green burial section under Brian's management. www.molesfuneralhomes.com
Mary Woodsen: President of Greensprings Natural Cemetery, NY. Mary is a science writer at Cornell University and a freelance journalist. She's also a member of the Finger Lakes Land Trust, the Cayuga chapter of Keeping Track, the Society of Environmental Journalists, the Society of Conservation Biology, and the National Association of Science Writers. www.naturalburial.org
Joel Rabinowitz: Executive Director of Greensprings, NY. After serving as a Greensprings trustee for over two years, Joel Rabinowitz became Greensprings' first director in July 2007. www.naturalburial.org
Tara McCoy: Director at Greenhaven Preserve, SC. After several years in the real estate industry Tara traded in her hard hat for hiking boots to develop Greenhaven Preserve, a 364-acre nature preserve and conservation burial ground in the endangered COWASEE Basin. With a new business model, calling for natural burial to be an option within funeral service rather an alternative to it, Tara has been educating funeral directors and working with them to make green burial a mainstream option, truly changing the American way of death. www.greenhavenpreserve.com
Ed Bixby: Owner of Steelmantown Natural Cemetery, NJ. Steelmantown is a historical as well as green burial site. When Ed noticed that this once beautiful old cemetery was running into disrepair – there was trash being dumped by the historical gravestones – he approached the ex-owner about it, bought the property and has now turned it into a green cemetery. Under Ed's ownership the transformation of the site has been nothing short of miraculous. Steelmantown backs on to a state forest, so as well as visiting the historical part of the cemetery, walking on Ed's nature trails, you can also hike out into the forest. www.steelmantowncemetery.com
Jenny Bingham: Jenny just moved to the community of Durham, NC from Pennsylvania. Since settling into the community, Jenny has begun weekly home funeral study groups in order to share with her community her hospice and home funeral care wisdom. In preparation for Clark's home funeral, he, Jane, and their friend Katherine Register attend one of Jenny's meetings.
Char Barrett: Founder of A Sacred Moment - Home Funerals, Green Burials & Life Celebrations, WA. As a hospice volunteer since the early nineties, Char completed hundreds of hours of grief and bereavement training. In addition, she received training as a Certified Celebrant by Doug Manning through In-sight Institute. To add to her knowledge and understanding of the funeral profession, Char returned to school full-time to earn her degree in Mortuary Science and became a Licensed Funeral Director. During this time Char was introduced to the concept of home funerals as an alternative approach to conventional funerals, which transitioned naturally from the home hospice model of care.
Char blended the concepts of hospice, home funeral vigils, green burials and life celebrations to help companion families at the time of death. In this way A Sacred Moment was born. www.asacredmoment.com
John Eric Rolfstad: Executive Director of People’s Memorial Association (PMA): a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1939 to help the residents of Washington state avoid the confusion, sales pressure and high expense often associated with cremation and burial arrangements. They also provide education and advocacy for all consumers regarding end-of-life matters.
Erik Lees: Principal at Lees + Associates Landscape Architects. Erik has been involved in landscape planning, design and construction since 1972. His background in landscape architecture, horticulture and management combined with a thorough understanding of government systems has resulted in a blend of planning and corporate skills. He has designed and managed many large and small-scale parks, cemetery and municipal infrastructure projects.
Erik is a Member of the Park Branch Advisory Council of the BC Recreation and Parks Association and is a Board Member of the University of Oregon's Park Administrators Academy. He is also a member of the Western Canada Cemetery Association, Cremation Association of North America and the Cemetery and Crematorium Association of BC. He is a contributing writer to the Institute of Burial and Cremation Administration and Network magazines and speaks regularly to industry, academic and business groups on subjects relating to sustainability, parks and cemetery trends, planning and design. http://elac.bc.ca/people.shtml
Shari Wolf: Operations Officer GBC.
Shannon Shoup: Compliance Officer GBC.
Kevin Hartley: Kevin was a funeral director for over 25 years in Australia. When Myra Makin, a grandmother battling cancer, first approached Kevin he had heard of, but never done a natural burial. She was persistent however, and her passion and conviction drove Kevin to help her achieve her dying wish. Once Kevin witnessed the beauty and simplicity of Myra's funeral, he was inspired to open his own entirely natural cemetery in South Australia, the first of it's kind in the country. Unfortunately though, his extensive and well-conceived proposal was rejected by the government. Kevin has since began a University degree in psychology and is waiting for the right opportunity to continue work in natural burials.
Interviews and videos with Kevin Harltey:
News Clip featuring Kevin Hartley who helped Myra Makin have the first natural burial in Australia - ABC Stateline 2008
News Clip featuring Kevin Hartley - the state of natural burial alternatives in Australia - ABC Stateline 2008
Zenith Virago: President of the Natural Death Care Center, Byron Bay, AUS. Caretaker & Deathwalker for a more concious dying process. Zenith is a consultant, speaker, author, para legal. JP., a marriage and death celebrant, and she has a background in law, women's issues and community work. Zenith is a international speaker on death matters and has 20 years of experience assisting people to DIY through the death and funeral process.
Vast and varied experience both with the dying and the bereaved. Educator and trainer in sessions and workshops covering legal, community and spiritual knowledge of death and dying, for volunteers, community individuals, hospice workers and other professionals. http://www.naturaldeathcentre.org.au/
funeral homes:
Bob Prout: Prout Funeral Home, Verona, NJ. Prout Funeral Home has been offering full service funerals since 1924. Once Bob inherited the business from his father, he combined his studies of ecology with funeral practices and now runs a 98% self-sustainable, fourteen room, 140 solar-paneled funeral home. It is an impressive site to see. Prout Funeral Home offers conventional, natural and cremation services. www.proutfuneralhome.com
Bob and Denise Fertig: Fertig Funeral Home, NJ. Bob and Denise have run their family business since 2004 in Mullica Hill, South Jersey. They offer conventional, natural and home funeral services. www.fertigfuneralhome.com
Walker S. Posey: Posey Funeral Homes, SC. Licensed Funeral Director and Embalmer. Walker Posey is a fourth generation funeral director and embalmer with a family history dating back 130 years in funeral service. Walker is a graduate of Brigham Young University and The Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science. He holds funeral director and embalmer licensure in South Carolina and Georgia, South Carolina pre-need funeral insurance licensure, and is a member of the Academy of Funeral Service Practitioners. Walker is looking to bring his family’s funeral home into the green funeral business and has become an active participant with the Green Burial Council. He also works closely with Tara McCoy of Greenhaven Preserve in Eastover, SC.
Joe R. Smolenski, III: Renaissance Funeral Home, NC. Joe is a fourth-generation licensed funeral director and embalmer at Renaissance Funeral Home in Raleigh, NC. Renaissance has been operating in the Raleigh area since 2003, but the Smolenski history in funeral industry goes all the way back to the 1920’s. Being one of the few green funeral service providers in the Triangle area, Joe developed a relationship with Clark and Jane and provided much assistance in their journey towards fulfilling Clark’s wishes of having a green burial in the Triangle area. Joe graduated North Carolina State University in 2003 and Fayetteville Technical CC in 2006.
Charles Soloman: Riverside Memorial Chapel, NY. Since 1897 Riverside Memorial Chapel has been a respected name in Jewish funeral service. Charles Soloman is the most senior of all the funeral directors at Riverside. www.riversidememorialchapel.com
Andrea Basile: Licensed Funeral Director, NY. Andrea has been a funeral director all her life. Her family sold the business out from under her ten years ago, yet she is still providing funeral services independently. As a 70 year old Mrs. Basile has seen a lot: her boss suffered a long battle against lung cancer, and Andrea has already had half a lung removed. "Hazards of the trade," she laughs. Andrea describes the funeral industry today as "utter chaos" and blames the corporations for buying out independent homes and making huge profits from death.
professors, scholars, advocates, published authors and others:
Mark Harris: author, Grave Matters. Mark Harris is a former environmental columnist with the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. He is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. For Grave Matters, Mark has been interviewed by Fresh Air host Terry Gross and appeared on CNN, MSNBC, ABC News and the CBC. His views on green burial and funeral matters have been reported on in The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, and People magazine, among others. www.gravematters.us
Professor Roger Valentine Short: Professor of Reproductive Biology, University of Melbourne, Australia. Roger was born in Surrey, England in 1930. Short was educated at Sherborne School in Dorset before starting a bachelor of veterinary science at Bristol University. He completed his bachelor's degree in 1954 and then travelled to the University of Wisconsin in the USA on a Fulbright Scholarship to complete his masters in genetics (MSc 1955). Short then returned to the UK and began a PhD at the University of Cambridge. Short then accepted the positions of director of the Medical Research Council Unit of Reproductive Biology and honorary professor at the University of Edinburgh (1972-82). Short came to Australia in 1982 to take up a personal chair as professor of reproductive biology in the department of physiology at Monash University. In 1996 Short became a professorial fellow in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne.
Around 2006-2007, during a stay in Africa with Kooki Gallman author of "I Dreamed of Africa," Roger noticed two beautiful trees in her garden. When he commented on them Kooki explained that her husband was buried under one and her son under the other. You could say that Roger had a “light bulb moment” then. He returned to Australia and canceled his potential future plans to be cremated and sprinkled over a hill on the Island of Rum, Scotland. Since then he has been advocating for natural and sustainable burials in Australia. “Our last emission shouldn’t be the biggest of our lives,” he says. “We could do an awful lot after death if we left behind a tree.”
Interviews with Roger:
Human Population Growth the Transcending Problem of our Times - The Science Show - ABC National Radio
Melatonin for Jet Lag - The Science Show - ABC National Radio
The Long and the Short of Roger - ABC
Video clip of Roger from a conference on climate change at Cambridge University
Joshua Slocum: Executive Director, Funeral Consumers Alliance, VT. The fraud and malpractice of the funeral industry has been very topical in the media. Family members have been shocked to find their loved ones' bodies exhumed, removed and the plot resold. Tri-State Crematory in Georgia was accused of dumping bodies in a nearby field. The corporation National Prearranged Services has been put into receivership by a Texas court after investigators alleged they were running a Ponzi scheme, and racked up $987 million in negative equity. The Funeral Consumers Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting a consumer's right to choose a meaningful, dignified, affordable funeral. http://www.funerals.org/