Green Burial: Options and Aspirations

Brown Bag Lunch Presentation with Michael Furniss, Adjunct Professor Humboldt Department of Forestry & Wildland Resources

Monday, December 7, 2020 - 12:00pm

Explore green burial as an alternative choice to cremation and conventional burial methods. Green burial is typically lower cost, conserves natural resources, eliminates hazardous chemicals, and preserves natural areas. Love of nature in a forever-wild meadow or forest, in a beautiful place where the living wish to visit, are some of the many reasons for choosing green burial.

Michael J. Furniss is a soil scientist and forest hydrologist and a local expert on green burial. He is retired from the US Forest Service Redwood Sciences Lab. He is currently an adjunct professor of forestry and ecology at Cal Poly Humboldt and is the principal at M.J. Furniss & Associates. He also works as a climate, forests and hydropower scientist for the Redwood Coast Energy Authority, and is a long-time member of the Forest Management Committee of the Arcata Community Forest. Furniss has been working on natural green burial and green burial with trees for more than a decade.