Below are some useful links if you want to find out more about natural burial provision in the UK and overseas.
Natural Burial in the UK
The Natural Death Centre (NDC) is a social entrepreneurial, educational charity that gives advice on all aspects of dying, bereavement and consumer rights. The NDC gives support on family-organised and environmentally-friendly funerals, as well as run the Association Natural Burial Grounds and publish the Natural Death Handbook.
Charles Cowling’s blog and Good Funeral Guide are also extremely insightful and Mark Harris’s book, Grave Matters, on natural burial in America is an engaging read. Ken West’s book, A Guide to Natural Burial is a must read for anyone involved in natural burial provision or management meanwhile.
In conjunction to my own academic research on natural burial in the UK, an interdisciplinary team at the Department of Landscape, University of Sheffield, conducted a survey of natural burial sites in the UK and produced an excellent interactive map of where all 207+ sites can be found. Their project was called Back to Nature? The cultural, social and emotional implications of natural burial.
Other countries that provide natural burial options include:
Germany
Netherlands
Japan
Denmark
Canada
Australia
Ireland
Academic Links
The Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath often has public lectures on all aspects of death and dying, including the cultural innovation of natural burial. My own research on natural burial was undertaken through the Centre for Death and Life Studies at the University of Durham.
The Association for the Study of Death and Society (ASDS) and affiliated academic journal, Mortality, are also great resources for current research on natural burial and the wider subject of death and dying.
For a European perspective on death and dying I recommend the research output of the Centre for Thanatology at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. This research centre will be hosting the next Death, Dying and Disposal international conference (DDD10). I hope to be there too with my film! Marius Rotar at the University of Alba Iulia in Romania also organises an annual conference, which is a delight to attend, called Dying an Death in 18th – 21st Century Europe. He advertises his conference through his blog.
Finally, I eagerly anticipate a forth coming documentary project on American natural burial. A Will for the Woods looks like a fascinating project and an American version of the film ‘Earth to Earth’ that I collaborated in producing.
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