Let’s Talk about Green Burial Practices

In Finland, 62 000 people die annually. Their remains are buried or cremated. While these are currently the two allowed ways of burying in Finland, they are not necessarily the most environmentally friendly or sustainable. To encourage a just systematic change toward green burial practices, we need to look at climate and environmental research, acknowledge cultural and religious practices, and identify social taboos and possible legal constraints, as well as public safety and health concerns. In some countries, green burials are also a growing business. This trend can attract more companies to make environmental choices but also raises questions about what can be sold as green solutions.

To approach this question together with experts from multiple fields, we are organizing a conference session called ‘Environmental Death: Exploring Green Burial Practices in Finland’ on October 1st at Science for Sustainability (ex Sustainability Science Days) organized by the University of Helsinki and Aalto University. If you are at the conference, please join us and come say hi! If you are not attending, feel free to contact Safer Climate or any of the organizations involved (list below) for questions or collaboration ideas.

In this session, the different environmental, legal, ethical and societal questions related to developing new green burial solutions in Finland and beyond are looked at. The discussion revolves around questions such as what is meant by green burial, what is the relationship between forests and nature to burials, what kind of practices already exist globally, and what is needed to create a baseline transdisciplinary understanding of Finnish green burial practices for further research and development of new solutions. The sessions consist of short presentations and group discussions facilitated by the organizers, aiming to map out existing research, relevant actors and research gaps related to green burials.

Session organizers/discussants: Rosa Rantanen (Safer Climate, INAR/ACCC, University of Helsinki), Stephanie Sinclair-Lappi (Suomen Luontohautausliitto ry), Mari Könönen (The Natural Resources Institute Finland, Luke), Mikko Weckroth (The Natural Resources Institute Finland, Luke), Philip Chambers (University of Helsinki and University of Eastern Finland), Kimmo Malin (University of Helsinki and University of Eastern Finland), Marko Laakso (Lutheran Church in Helsinki).